Pressure Valve
by C4Crocuta
Summary: Don't read this.
1. Chapter 1

Most stories start with "If you told me I'd be here like this today, I wouldn't have believed you…" but this story won't start like that.

Because I don't care where I am going, what I'm going to do. I don't care where I came from. All I know is what is going on right in front of me, and I have no intention of thinking about what-ifs, what-was, and what-could-have-been.

This story isn't even about me, it's about us. Two interesting girls who found themselves in an interesting place, with interesting people. It isn't about where we came from, it isn't about what we've done. It isn't going to be about where we will go or what we will do. This story is only about here and now, and everything we are doing to hold onto here and now.

* * *

Tapping her gloved fingers on the bar counter, she gave a sigh and glanced around the almost empty building.

"You want some ice cream?" The girl across the room glanced up from her handheld game, her rainbow hair pouring from the shaved midnight black side of her head, tucked just by her ear.

"Where do you suppose we get ice cream?" She moved to get off the stool, leaving an empty glass behind.

"There's a mini-mart down the street, wouldn't be hard to just walk in and grab it. Clerk wont know... and if he does…." Nagisa grinned at her, snapping the game shut with a satisfying click as she crossed the room, her pure black eyeballs reflecting the room around her, causing Koneko to question what kind of torture experimentation triggered the color as her own had turned completely white.

She closed her eyes, plopping back down in her stool, "Absolutely not. You know we're not allowed to leave."

Nagisa's hand smacked her on the back of her clothed shoulder, "Quit being his lapdog, Koneko. He won't know."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Akaguro."

Nagisa gave an outward, unnecessarily loud groan at the dark voice from behind them, "Must you jump out of the darkness all the time, Hands?"

"Watch your mouth, Nagisa." Kurogiri materialized in front of her, giving what she could only assume was a disapproving look from behind the metal mask.

With a roll of her eyes, she glanced at her best friend only to find her gone. "Wha- Koia! Stop doing that!"

A bored voice spoke from the right side of her, "You don't look happy, are you taking me?"

"AND ME!" Nagisa gave the loud protest, turning to the right and around to glance at Koneko and Tomura, who seemed to be locked in a heated staring contest.

"Absolutely not. Not with him there." Tomura gave a short glance at Nagisa, "And.. No. Just no. You're more trouble than you're worth sometimes."

She opened her mouth to protest, only to be cut off by Koneko, "Why? What do you think he can do that I can't?" At his silence, she continued, "You NEED me. Why else would I be here?"

The staring contest heated the room when Tomura broke his eyes away, his raspy voice showing his momentary fury, "You want to test it? Fine, let's move. Nagisa, go train."

"Awww mannn!"

* * *

She watched as Kurogiri opened the black portal, Tomura slowly walking through like a thief climbing beyond windows in the night. Behind him, all his low ranked, disposable, lackies followed. With an impatiently held breath, she waited for the nomu to pass through as well before making her slow trek toward the black vortex. She passed through right before Kurogiri cut off, staying hidden back behind him and the crowd.

She could hear Tomura speak softly to himself through his frustration, the hand on his face muffling the specifics. Not moments later did a commotion erupt up ahead, and she didn't have to guess at who was behind it. Her theory proving correct when Tomura began to mutter to himself about Eraser Head again. With an antsy shuffle from one foot to the other, she reached up with her left hand to scratch at her right eye. How long was this going to take?

A cursory glance up ahead had her moving a few feet forward, "T- Boss. The kids are leaving."

Kurogiri moved before Tomura had a chance to respond, leaving her with the nomu and Hands. The thought caused her to look down at her gloved ones. Silently sliding off the smooth red gloves and pocketing them, she glimpsed back up to watch Kurogiri scatter the students among the dome. "Do not move a muscle, until I tell you to."

Her pupils stirred to the left, but she willed her face to remain impassive; her silence an unquestionable submission to the order.

It felt like an eternity before the number of flunkies started to dwindle, and finally that number fell just low enough for the object of their observation to turn towards them and freeze. Several silent moments went by before he spoke, "Is… It can't be."

"Oh," Tomura spoke softly, but loud enough to be heard this time, "But it is."

Aizawa took a step forward but otherwise made no moves, "Is it? Is it really you?"

* * *

His eyes hazed as he stared at the scene before him, the shortest of the two baring a striking resemblance to a familiar person, though a bit older than he remembered and with lighter eyes. But there was no mistaking it, he would recognize that cynical look anywhere even after 11 years.

Abruptly his mind warped and the scene in front of him swirled into something reminiscent. A young girl at the age of 6 looking up at him in a kitchen, a cookie in hand and a bizarrely mischievous gleam in her eye as he ruffled the top of her hair.

Hazy around the edges he could make out the scene flickering into something only hours later, his old neighborhood having a block party and his young neighbor going into the kitchen for a snack. She had not left the street but moments after another neighbor had arrived, somebody she did not get along with well despite her young age. He vaguely remembered the man holding conversation with some of the others before going into the house, an offer to prepare for the barbeque. Arbitrarily, he had wandered into the house after a small commotion: the man telling the girl something, but she had not taken it in stride. With free skin exposed in the hot summer she reached out to grab his arm, barely 5 fingertips touching his skin before he had shaken her away and turned back to his task of chopping up ribs.

The glare on her face dictated her childhood defiance, before that same mischievous gleam pulled across her face and the corner of her lip twitched up only slightly. And without a word she turned and left the kitchen, her eyes glancing up at him as she passed him through the doorway. When he looked back up, the man at the counter had stopped the chopping ministrations and was staring with a blank look straight ahead. Without warning, he looked back down and turn the slightly greasy knife on himself. Unable to react in time, Aizawa watched as the man fell to the floor, blood pooling around him, no chance of being resuscitated.

And that was the day the young girl had gotten her quirk, and the last time he ever saw her.

* * *

She felt no need to respond to a question Tomura already answered, not to mention he had not yet given her permission to speak. At her obvious silence, Aizawa took another step, one that was no longer friendly. "What are you doing with them? Where have you been all these years?!"

Her fingers twitched in agitation and a side look from Tomura in question was all the consent she needed to snap. "Like you don't know!"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen you in 11 years." Aizawa seemed to have calmed back, taking no more steps as he appraised her and the threat around her. Cautiously, he glanced down at her hands.

"No! No more lies!" The glass around the dome seemed to vibrate slightly before cracking, everyone in the immediate vicinity dropping stance to cover their ears. The pressure in the dome built quickly with her anger, but a hand came out to close only three fingers around her polyester covered wrist.

"Mind your manners, kitten. Do not forget that I am in this room too, and I do not feel the need to remind you that I don't enjoy being crushed by your anger."

The pressure in the room subsided alongside her ire, and she breathed out softly as he removed his fingers from her person. "Not a muscle." He had reminded her.

Not another word was spoken between the three until Tomura suddenly shot forward, and seconds passed in slow motion as he went strike-for-strike with Aizawa, revealing what he had learned from his observation. His hand landed on Aizawa's elbow, decaying away the cloth there.

She fought to keep her resentment at bay, basking in the slowly decaying flesh particles with admiration. Unfortunately, the man broke away before any further damage could be done and lackeys flanked him at all sides as the fight wore on. Tomura's verbal observation becoming a taunt she was well familiar with.

She gave a glance towards where she knew Kurogiri to be, only now noticing the nomu no longer beside her. An abrupt crunch drawing her back to the small massacre in front of her. The body bent into forms it shouldn't be, and a smile came to her only momentarily before Kurogiri went flying in her peripheral.

"Fuck." The word slipped out before approval, but she didn't notice. His sudden appearance beside Tomura seemed to cause the man such anxiety. She was hesitant to move towards him when she overheard his instinct to leave.

Reaching back for her gloves, his sudden move surprised her yet again as he headed for students on the sidelines. Barely reaching one before pausing, his eyeline drawing her back to Aizawa who's face was being smashed down again by the nomu.

Her eyes darted back to the sidelines for only a second before her body moved on its own accord. Instantly, she was in front of Tomura as dust clouded around them. Only when it settled did she look up from her hand that grabbed the wrist of the boy in front of her.

She could feel Tomura's fury from behind her, his killing intent telling her to move. She flickered away from him and back to the nomu's side, who had moved once again, as Tomura let out a deranged and irritated scream, clamping his hand down on the shortest boy's head. The boy she touched earlier just standing there blankly, watching his classmate start to crumble in front of him. Not a touch of emotion touched his eyes, no fear or heartache, just a sliver of recognition.

The explosion at the front gate caught everyone's attention before Tomura's hand clamped down on him as well. As All Might stepped out into their line of sight, the killing intent around Tomura faded and she let her shoulders relax. She wouldn't be disposed of, just yet.

Anger poured from every fiber of the large man's being as he suddenly rushed through lackeys, knocking them out with immense speed as he made his way toward Aizawa. Just before reaching his point of destination, she flickered again, reappearing beside Tomura.

All Might followed not a second after, snatching up the remaining two children from nearby. The rush of the movement knocking the hand from Tomura's face. With bated breath, she watched the hand knock against the dusted ground and Tomura start to whisper excitedly about government officials, heroes dying, and lack of speed before glancing back at her.

As the school kids scampered away, All Might rushed them. A whisper of 'nomu' bringing out another feeling of uselessness. Flickering behind All Might, she watched for a signal as the nomu blocked his track and his attack. A signal that would never come.

It was Kurogiri who acted next, warping the ground to keep the nomu from being thrusted through the concrete at All Might's next attack. As Kurogiri explained his next attack, she briefly wondered why it was she was with Tomura, why he had taken her, why he was training her, and why the hell he brought her.

The thoughts cut to an abrupt end when a blond boy suddenly saved the earlier boring boy's ass with an explosion. What a useful quirk.

He was followed up by two others, and she rolled her eyes at the amount of ego and testosterone that flooded her senses, wordlessly wishing Nagisa had been allowed to come along.

Beside her, Tomura whispered about kids these days and how they put the League of Villains to shame. Briefly, she agreed in silence. "Nomu."

Again, left to her own devices, she flickered around the battle area, her fingers twitching with the need to be put to work as the nomu and All Might battled it out.

_Please, please, let me go_.

She only stopped to listen to Tomura's speech about what is good and bad. What is admirable. What is violence. And what this world will be with no more All Might.

"Nomu, Kurogiri. Get him. I'll deal with the children. Kitten, stay-"

Nomu and All Might came blow for blow at each other, the sound waves canceling out the rest of his words from her ears as the nomu shot through the dome ceiling. Maybe she wouldn't survive this after all.

"Why is he still standing? Did that dumb bird lie?" Tomura's hands immediately went to his neck as his anxiety worked up. Kurogiri's words calming him almost instantly.

"Kitten. Go."

The moment Tomura's words lit up in her ears, she pounced. Appearing by All Might with her arm outstretched. She just needed one hand to touch, just one. And he had so much skin available.

Then that stupid plain boy again, the freckled one, came flying out of nowhere straight towards her. Flickering out of the way would lose her advantage on All Might, but she wasn't built for the brunt of physical attacks. In a moment of deliberating panic, she stayed rooted to the spot with her arm still reaching for the hulk of evil in front of her.

Eyes slightly widening, Tomura jutted his hand out through Kurogiri, who's gate appeared right before the boy's face. This was it; it would finally be done. Her longest three fingers barely grazing All Might's forearm when a pin-drop gunshot rang past her ear, drawing her arm back as her head flew towards Tomura. The sight of his bloodied hand draining the color from her face.

With a decision to be made, she flickered behind the new assailant, kicking him directly in the back to misdirect his next shot.

A sudden scream violated her ears, knocking her back down the staircase before another attack could be made. With the tingling sensation of blood in her ears she spun in fury, pressurizing the air in the immediate vicinity to counter the pain.

"Game over." Tomura whispered, only to be cut off by bullets piercing the air around him, drawing her attention straight back to him. As Kurogiri wrapped around him, she could hear her heartbeat in her head.

A sound of jet engines pulled her consideration to Thirteen, but with no exposed skin there was nothing she could do.

"Koia. Let's move!" She flickered back to Tomura's side as Kurogiri called and drew them back through the gate.

* * *

Training didn't last long, the punching bag in the dojo downstairs becoming couch stuffing after a thirty-minute workout. Left to her own devices, Nagisa flipped out her handheld one and made her way back up to the bar, only stopping by her quarters to shower and change into something less sweaty.

She watched little Yoshi fall from the sky by way of balloon on the small LED screen when the rapid sound of a warp gate almost knocked her off the bar counter where she sat cross legged. The open bag of sunflower seeds spilling out on the shiny bar top, some cascading into a spin precariously close to the edge.

"You lied." Tomura called to her as Koneko tended to his wounded hand quickly and quietly; the three having reappeared in the middle of the bar floor.

Nagisa gave a loud huff as she resituated herself, "Birds don't lie, Hands."

A nearby monitor flickered to life as a blue screen came upon it, the voices of two men carrying through in conversation with Tomura.

"There was a child as fast as All Might," Tomura grumbled before turning his eyes to Koneko, "If he didn't get in the way… we would have killed All Might… finally."

That caught her attention as she reached back into the bag for more sunflower seeds, popping a small few into her mouth. A child as fast as the devil himself? Seemed unlikely, but she wasn't going to voice that opinion.

A few more words came through the monitor as Koneko finally finished wrapping his hand and watched him stand. He reached down with his good hand and tilted the girl's chin up with two fingers to look at him from her place on the floor.

"But it's not over. And next time, they will know to fear us."

Later, when it was just the two of them, she looked over as Koneko rubbed down the bar counter with a bleach-soaked towel, "You disappointed him, again."

After receiving a dry look from the girl, she elaborated, "He would be here if you didn't, demanding you go to bed and other controlling nonsense."

A sigh was followed up by barely-there words, "I disobeyed him."

She quirked up an eyebrow at the white-eyed girl; it was a new development but not a shocking one. As obedient as the girl was to Hands, she had a hard time listening to anyone. "That's why shit went south?"

Her best friend shook her head, the piercings in her face luminous in the light and subconsciously causing Nagisa to reach up and adjust her own, "It was a failure from the start. He didn't even use me. I'm beginning to think he had no intention of killing All Might today."

Some time in silence passed as Nagisa considered their purpose here with Hands. Personally, she only stuck around for Koneko, and the fact it gives her free reign to kill anyone and hideout from heroes afterwards. Sure, she felt some kind of appreciation for Hands getting her out of that facility, but she didn't hold the same loyalty that Koneko did, and part of her wondered why that was.

"So… about that ice cream." She grinned.

Koneko looked up with a small smile and pulled the stretchy tie out of her short hair, "Let's go. I think the market four blocks north is still 24/7."

With a gleeful pounce, she wrapped her arm around her best friend's elbow and led her towards the door, slipping through it with a quiet run down the stairs. At the bottom, she undid the deadbolt and peered her head out.

A careful glance down both sides of the street and around a side alley let her know they were in the clear from being caught, and she pulled Koneko out behind her, locking up quickly and taking off in a short jog up the north alley, "Last one there pays!"

A scratchy giggle pulled from behind her as she slowed her jog to a soft trot. The fact that the two paid for nothing was a long-running joke between the girls.

"Wanna play "get help" or should we just do a busted soda can trick?" Koneko questioned as she shoved her ungloved hands into her hoodie's pockets.

A quirked up pierced eyebrow was all she needed to convey a question. They typically just grabbed what they wanted and walked out.

Catching the look, Koneko shrugged. "We're out of cigarettes, we need to get behind the counter."

A sudden blanch had her teeth pulling at her piercings, "You smoke like a damn chimney!" Fucking hell, the girl couldn't go a cold look from Tomura without blowing through three packs in a day.

"What an astute observation."

The conversation carried into silence and sarcastic dirty jokes until they rounded the last corner of an alley, almost blinded as large florescent lights in different colors chased back the darkness.

As they slipped inside the automatic doors, Nagisa grabbed her friends elbow and pulled her away from the colder grocery section and down the back-right wall, headed for personal care aisles.

"I think I should change hair dye brands, the blue fades so much faster than the rest." She spoke, unsure if she was thinking aloud or talking to Koneko, knowing she'd only get something half-helpful, half-insulting in return.

"Really, it's the green color you should be worried about. Why not just dye your head one color like a normal person with depression and PTSD?"

Yup, there it was.

"What do you mean the green is more worrisome? It's perfectly there!" She retorted, not willing to acknowledge the joking insult that bordered truth more than geology did.

"It's perfectly yellow is what it is."

More than hearing the humor in those words, she bit back her own playful insults as she bent over to check the blue – and green – dyes on the lower shelves. Aware that Koneko would be paying more attention to her surroundings than whatever it was Nagisa was doing.

"You're really colorful."

A masculine voice broke through her thoughts from her left, and she glanced out the corner of her eye at him, not bothering to right herself after not liking what she saw. He apparently caught Koneko's attention too as the girl's silent shoes came around the corner of the aisle in her peripheral.

"Nice deduction." She gave a lazy drawl as she looked back at the dyes in front of her, "Can you count to ten and say your ABCs too?"

At his confused but perhaps offended silence, she immediately stood straight and tossed her hair back to look at him over her shoulder as she handed two small tubs of dye to Koneko, who pocketed them tranquilly, "Tell me, does the square peg fit in the round hole?"

"Yo-You little bitch!"

Seeing Koneko arch up an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth twitching into a small smirk before it fully disappeared, the girl disappearing with it around the corner once again, she turned to face the man, briefly glancing down at the nametag on his shirt. Ah, so the little shit worked here?

"I'm sorry, did you say something, Riley? I think you might have tripped over some first-grader words that are a bit too big for you."

She wasn't expecting her insult to be as long-winded as it was and found herself immediately bored with the man. Not wanting to wait for him to get heated up, she took it into her own hands and focused in on him, using the earlier insult from his mouth to ball her ever-resting fury in the pit of her stomach. As much as she would enjoy just burning him alive, he wasn't worth that much effort.

The man's face flushed, both with body heat and anger. Behind him, an older man walking past with a tube of toothpaste was bumped into by a small girl with light hair.

"Excuse me!" She heard the girl squeak, watching as she bent down to pick up the small box for him, one bare hand keeping her righted up on his forearm. She smiled as she handed it to him and bowed her head gently, stepping away and down towards the ice cream aisle.

When her gaze flickered back to the hot-head in front of her, she gave a shit eating grin.

A second later, the older man holding the toothpaste paused and turned slowly towards Riley with a blank look. When he reached out to grab the boy's shoulder and swing him around, a sudden fury filled look crossed his face and he reeled his fist back to smash into the boy's nose.

An immediate rebuttal was given, and Nagisa walked away calmly as the scuffle caught the attention of nearby cashiers, who rushed to break their coworker and customer apart.

Slipping through the now empty checkout aisles, she reached out to pick up a few cartons of Silvers, pocketing them as she walked. Outside the front of the store, she bumped into that same light haired girl who smiled and held up a tub of ice cream and a box of ice cream cones in a bag, "I think ice cream is a good choice for such a _hot_ night."

The two girls giggled as they slipped their arms together again and headed back down the ally.


	2. Chapter 2

MATURE WARNING.

This chapter includes adult situations, emotions, and scenes. The story will continue graphic in a violent and sexual nature from here on out. Read at your own risk.

* * *

The low muttering conversation between the two girls paused into long silence as Tomura entered the otherwise empty bar and crossed the room, only stopping to pick up a remote and flip the unused TV on, switching channels 'til he found the one he wanted.

After exchanging a confused look with Koneko, Nagisa turned back to look at him, "What are we watching?"

As if debating on responding at all, Tomura let the silence stretch before he spoke without looking back, "UA is live broadcasting a festival."

"A festival? Like the ones from the movies? Why would they broadcast that? Why would a school even have that?" She racked her brain for a reason a high school would host a festival; the image of stalls of food, music, lanterns and strings of lights filling her head. She couldn't imagine why they would televise such a thing.

"Not quite, Akaguro. This isn't like a holiday. They pit the students against each other in fights and situations to give them the opportunity to show off their quirks." Kurogiri pulled up behind the bar again, wiping down glasses that never get used.

Her mouth formed an O shape as she looked back at Tomura, "How strange… Is it like a battle royale? Do they let the kids kill each other?"

"So full of questions." The only response Tomura gave as he continued to watch the screen.

It was Koneko who spoke up now, voicing her own, "Are we watching for… recruiting… purposes? To see what kind of quirks we could use?" She paused halfway through the question, as if thinking of the right word.

Tomura looked back at them for a brief moment and weighed his answer, "Among other things."

With only a glance between them, the two girls jumped off their stools and grabbed nearby chairs and a table, dragging it over to the TV with a loud screech that made Tomura turn around to glare at them. They stared back unabashed the entire length of the ear shattering sound as they dragged the table, only to plop into the chairs. Nagisa immediately clapped a few times above her head with an almost pleading look to Kurogiri, "Popcorn? Pleassseeee?"

Beside her, Koneko propped her feet up on the table and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, removing one and glancing around for a lighter.

Delicately, one lit up in front of her cigarette for a short few seconds before Tomura repocketed it and sat beside her, hunched over to look closer at the TV. "You're going to go blind sitting that close." Nagisa mused, only for the smirk on her face to fall when her best friend retorted.

"And you're going to go mute when he cuts out your tongue."

Tomura ignored them both, not even glancing back when Kurogiri appeared with the asked for popcorn and sat at the table after a silent thank you from Nagisa.

As the festival started, Nagisa found herself drawn to a familiar face on the tv screen, but the cameras were far enough from the contestants that she ignored the weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, instead exchanging insulting commentary with Koneko when she thought it appropriate to speak without irritating Tomura.

Still, she kept feeling her eyes drawn back to a particular contestant, unable to shake the feeling of something familiar about him. When there was an intermission with a commercial break, Koneko got up with a stretch and left the room silently, presumably to use the bathroom.

A few minutes later when the festival resumed, she made a short note of the girl's continued absence before immediately being drawn back to the character, who the camera only glanced over before the next round of the competition started.. an actual battle royale.

Halfway through the unfortunately lacking blood bath, she was shocked away from the TV screen when Tomura stood and gave a hard stare at Kurogiri before leaving the room. She imagined his silent demand was to pay close attention in his absence and shrugged to herself, refocusing on the screen.

Immediately her eyes glanced a name on the scoreboard that pulled up a dramatic memory that hit her like a familiar electrocution.

_She gave a small grin as the boy in front of her stood tall with a stick in his hand, proclaiming how amazing his quirk is going to be when he gets it, and she silently agreed. _

_Her parents slamming the blinds shut in front of her as she looked out the window to see the same boy playing with a few others she didn't know. One of the smallest boys calling out to the one she knew, the name familiar in her ears and eerily similar to the one she saw on the scoreboard_. Though the words weren't explicitly said in the memory, she remembered being told that she wasn't allowed to play with other kids who weren't likely to have useful or powerful quirks.

Another spin in her vision gave way to the day that boy got his quirk_, the small explosions blasting in his palms as the sweet scent of smoked caramel filled the air around her. Her parents and his beaming excitedly around them. _

She shook her head as she refocused on the screen just as the battle royale drew to a close. A sudden pounding was driving hard against a dark wall in her head and she willed it to go away as the final round started.

Tomura finally reentered the room with Koneko in toe behind him, reseating himself at the table before the first contest of the final bracket round got underway. As the camera paneled around the arena, showing advertisements, students, and heroes alike, the two girls froze and fell silent when the camera panned to a flaming hero. Endeavor.

Tomura glanced back at them over the sudden stillness, Koneko reaching down to rub at her left forearm as Nagisa breathed hard and closed her eyes, counting to twelve. He shared a look with Kurogiri before reaching out to place three fingers on Koneko's knee, causing the girl to jump.

Her jump sent the chair screeching back an inch, breaking Nagisa from her concentration and causing her to jump too, nearly knocking over the popcorn. He raised an eyebrow at them in silent question. He knew some of what they had been through from the files and the very, very few tidbits Koneko was willing to share with him, but he didn't know everything, and this was an opportunity to learn more about the facilities. "Endeavor?"

"He came around, too. Not just All Might." Nagisa spoke after a second of calming down, the look on Koneko's face showing her reluctance to talk about the facilities. "A lot of pro-heroes knew about the facilities. Unlike All Might who just walked around and observed, Endeavor liked to get involved."

She said nothing after that, letting the point sink into the silence as the camera on the TV panned to someone else. Tomura didn't take his fingers off Koneko's knee however, just pulled his eyes away from where she continued to rub her arm until he looked back at the screen.

The first two contestants walked out towards each other, drawing the four observers back to what was at hand, Tomura giving a low grumble at one of them. "That's the boy. Tenacious. Fast, like All Might. Pain in my ass."

The fight didn't really have a chance to get underway before the other boy used some type of control quirk. Immediately Koneko felt three pairs of eyes on her, but she ignored it, watching the match awfully close. Only after Tomura observed the power behind the boy silently and the match closed to an end and prepared for the second one to start, would she be willing to speak.

"What was… was that….?" Nagisa tried to find a proper way to word her questions but didn't think a proper way existed.

Koneko shook her head in the negative, though she faced Tomura when she answered Nagisa's question, "No. It's too weak. He has to trick someone into replying and I don't think he has side abilities. If I had to wager a guess…." The room stayed silent as she thought for a moment, watching as the next two opponents took to the pavement, "I think his quirk is the ability to manipulate people's movements or thoughts. He can essentially brainwash them, though not well."

Kurogiri spoke up, unsure what the difference was, "And you don't?"

Another shake of her head, turning to Nagisa and Kuro this time, "I manipulate peoples' will. The boy, the freckled one, he was manipulated into physically giving up the fight. But his will to fight still remained, that's why his – the indigo haired boy's - quirk isn't as powerful. Willpower is what makes you do something, why would you fight against what you want?"

Though it was phrased as a question, she wasn't expecting an answer. Neither was Tomura as he ignored the rhetoric and watched the screen as the next fight got underway.

"That's Endeavor's kid… isn't it?" Nagisa asked when a sudden mountain of ice flashed in front of the screen, destroying one camera as the station immediately flickered the image to another.

"A challenge, that one will grow to be." Kurogiri spoke, bringing out a mumble from Tomura of "Bullshit."

The next few fights passed as mild entertainment, but nothing worth noting. Until a familiar blonde mop walked out into the light from the tunnel and Nagisa's breath caught.

"Hm, what is it?" Kurogiri asked from beside her, noticing the sudden shift.

She blinked a few times at the screen, getting out of her chair and shuffling closer to the TV. "I…. I know him."

_It was only a few days after her own quirk had manifested, her best friend sharing a bento with her in celebration of the new achievement, not at all bothered by the weird way it came about. He was showing off with small explosions when a dark car suddenly pulled up outside the front of the residence. Her father wasn't home but there was shouting and shattering noises that drew the kids' attention to the house from the backyard. Tentatively, but with her best friend beside her, she made her way into the home, calling for her mother._

_She rounded the corner into the main room when a sudden cloth was placed over her mouth, a large hand behind it. Another large arm wrapped around her upper chest, locking her arms down as she began to scream and kick. _

_Somewhere behind her, Katsuki screamed her name and a few small explosions went off as she heard him scuffle with someone before his mouth was covered too. _

_Unsure of what was going on, she fought the man holding her as she was carried out the front door and towards the dark car. Thrown inside the backseat and locked in, she stood on her knees and peered out the back window, her hands pressing up against the glass._

_As the men let go of Katsuki and dove into the front seat, she could see him running after the car down the middle of the dark pavement, his arms waving and his mouth moving. But she couldn't hear him over the sound of the engine as the car pulled quickly away from the suburb. _

She blinked her eyes back into focus at the TV, watching as the fight went to an extreme, dust covering the camera lenses. "We were friends as kids. He was there when I was," Nagisa paused to glance back at Tomura and Kurogiri, "When I went to the facility."

Koneko sent her an almost pitying look, understanding what its like to remember after forgetting for so long. Tomura barely spared her a glance before humming, "He's powerful. Could be useful."

Something inside of her lifted a little lighter at the thought; having another friend around would make this life more manageable.

The final fight was exponentially captivating. Not a word was spoken between the four as they watched, the first comment coming in as Koneko balked a humorless laugh as the blonde boy - Katsuki - was placed into chains to receive a metal for winning.

Tomura didn't bother to flip off the TV when the live show came to an end, just stood and turned to walk out the door. "Come, Koia, you have training to do."

Nagisa watched as the girl beside her held her breath for a moment before standing and following quickly through the door, and she frowned as she watched her go.

When she turned back to Kuro, the dark entity leaned in closer, "So tell me more about this explosive boy, hm?"

* * *

Koneko flicked the sweat from her fingertips, her chest heaving hard as her knees buckled beneath her, despite the fact they were no longer holding her upright anyway.

"Your nose is bleeding. Again."

Tomura's voice caused her to raise a shaking hand to wipe the blood from her face with a frown, her breath coming out ragged even minutes later.

"Not good enough. You need to focus." His words were steel, but she could do nothing but bend underneath them, no longer able to rise to the challenge he presented. "Your teleportation range has improved 50 meters since you got here."

_Since I brought you here _was the silent message within those words, pushing her to try again. "Your ability to control air pressure has improved as well inside your anger. You can do that, you can do this too. Now, _DO IT_."

The boom of his voice reverberated around her as she peered back up at the shaking man tied to a chair in front of her. Despite his body being tied down, both of his hands were free. The short fingers continuously tried to pull at his restraints, his fingertips bleeding and his voice gone from attempting to scream for help for the past two hours.

She crawled forward again, keeping her hands below her as she slouched in front of the man, staring at him with purpose. Her blank eyes narrowed in on him, trying to draw her eyes to his shaking hands in her blurry and unfocused vision.

A pounding was building within her head, her fingers twitching and her breath coming out hard, whether from expected physical torture or sheer determination she wasn't sure. Her vision darkened for only a second before she blinked her eyes back open and found herself facing a familiar red pair of shoes.

"Get up. Try with contact, this time."

Holding back a gag when she breathed out a bit hard, she pushed herself back onto her knees and stared up at the man above her. Unwilling to touch him, but not having much choice in the matter, she let her dim gaze wash over him until she found exposed skin on his ankle. Without further prompting by Tomura, she slipped off her own shoe and reluctantly resituated to press the side of her bare foot to his ankle.

"Good."

She was determined to make this work. The ability to use her quirk without having to touch all five fingers to someone's skin would be monumentally helpful. Unlike the facility, Tomura sought this out on the fast track, bypassing using one or two fingers only and going straight for any skin-to-skin contact at all. Of course, it didn't stop him from trying to get her to use her quirk without any sort of body contact.

A sudden hard lurch went through her, feeling like she just took a size 13 boot to the inside of her chest before her left side hit the ground head-to-toe, and earlier lunch came up on the concrete floor. She coughed all of it up with a grimaced expression, eyes slammed shut to keep the nausea at a minimum. When she opened her eyes, she found the stomach acid accompanied by a large amount of dark blood.

Tomura gave a loud sigh and turned around to leave the room, scratching at his neck and ignoring the terrified man tied to the chair. He gave one last call before the door closed behind him, "Take a shower and go to bed."

* * *

Later, when she had washed up and settled her stomach with a glass of water and three shots of tequila from the bar, Koneko sat down at the headboard in her room. The plush bedding beneath her becoming prey to prying red-gloved fingers, pulling out small pieces of fluffy threads.

The door opened, letting in a small fall of light before it shut behind the visitor. She didn't have to look up to know who disturbed the still silence. Even Nagisa knocked before just walking in. When the bed sunk down beside her, she glanced over at the half-gloved hands that only covered two fingers before wrapping around the wrist. "I'll get better."

"I know."

His fingers carefully reached out to run down her forearm, leaving goosebumps in their wake. "Todoroki Enji."

"Who is that?" She muttered, her eyes trailing after the fingers slowly.

"Endeavor."

Ah, it wasn't a leading statement or information, but a question. He wanted to know. She was never sure just how much she wanted him to know about the facility she was in. The experimentation and the torture might inspire him to try it himself, and it wasn't something she would be willing to tolerate now that she had an ounce of freedom. The day he found her had been pushed back so far from her mind she was afraid to remember, so she let her thoughts fall even further into the past, remembering what happened before that day.

"He burned me. Often."

"Why?"

_He thought it was funny_, she wanted to say, but she knew it wouldn't be enough to satisfy him. _He got disappointed when I couldn't do something. He was mad when my nerves stopped responding to electrocution._ _Why don't you go ask someone else and leave me alone._ She plagued her brain for a more appropriate answer. "I wasn't advancing fast enough." _We were a threat_.

Koneko glanced up at Tomura, his eyes already on hers when they raised and flittered between his eyes and lips, but he knew she would never make the first move, always thinking it a bad idea. He didn't give her a chance to look back down, closing the distance between them with his half-gloved hand gripping the back of her neck to keep her from pulling back from his lips. When she finally relaxed against him and parted her lips in submission, he pressed his body full against her to drop her back on the bed. It was then she moved her hands to wrap around his neck, drawing him closer to her as he pinned her down with his bodyweight, his other hand going down to grip her thigh and pull her knee up, the bruising grip moving to her hip seconds later.

Somewhere in the back of her mind was the warning that once she could manipulate people's will with any skin-to-skin contact, he wouldn't come to her like this anymore. The thought sobered her enough to consider pushing him back, but the thought left as quickly as it came when his gloved hand sunk up from her hip to splay over her bare navel. His unadorned fingers making tiny movements against the soft skin.

Any residual reservation disappeared when his other hand moved from behind her head and sunk down under the thin fabric around her hips, his ungloved fingers pressed into her core. "Let me."

It was another question; one he asked every time. And a question she was growing very tired of having to answer. As kind and unlike him as the gesture was, they both knew she would never deny him. Anything.

She nodded softly, whispering out an almost silent 'yes' to him just before his fingers sunk inside of her, his teeth into her shoulder. And with their exposed bodies still pressed against each other hours later, his larger form wrapped around her, an arm under her pillow and the other draped over her hip, his breathing steady and slumbered, she willed him to just go away.

He didn't.

* * *

Nagisa chewed on her thumbnail as she watched her best friend appear through the doorway to the staircase. "Have you been out alone? Hands isn't going to like that-"

Her sentence hung incomplete in the air as Koneko grabbed her arm and practically dragged her down the hallway before throwing the girl into her room and cover her mouth with a gloved hand. "Stay still and be quiet."

With a concerned look, Nagisa shoved the girl's hand away, "What's going on?"

Koneko only shushed her and threw her hand back up over Nagisa's mouth, "Your father is coming here to speak with Tomura."

Nagisa blinked blankly before shoving Koneko's hand off again, "WHAT?! My father?!"

"Hush!" Koneko looked back at the door as the room went silent," Nagisa… do you want to leave with him?"

She thought about that for several long seconds. She found out who her father was from Tomura after being taken out of the facility and learned a little bit about him overtime. Learning he was a villain was gratifying, but it also meant that no one knew where he was, so it wasn't like she could run off and go live with him again. When she had first left the facility, she didn't know who anyone was. She found a friend in Koneko because they had experienced the same living hell and now…. This was all she knew. "I… I don't even know who he is. Koneko, I don't remember him at all."

Koneko seemed to ponder that as she looked back and took a seat on the bed when she was sure they were quiet enough. "He's like this now, because he couldn't find you after that day," She started, "He never knew about the facilities, and he doesn't know about you being here now."

She thought about the short childhood she could remember, before she got her quirk and how protective her parents were about who she hung out with. "No… No, I think he was always like this."

The two girls shared a lengthy glance, and when Koneko was sure she understood Nagisa's position on the situation, she gave a short nod. "Stay here, I have to go back out there."

* * *

Koneko met Kurogiri and Tomura in the bar room, slipping her gloves off and into her pocket. With a quick glance at the two men, she rushed down the stairs and waited at the door silently before a small knock was heard.

So quick she almost fumbled, she unlatched the deadbolt and slid open the door. "Akaguro Chizome," she gave a bow at the waist, taking a short moment to let her eyes drag over his body for any exposed skin, "It's a pleasure."

"Is it?" He questioned, rhetorically, as he let the girl lead him up the stairs and into the bar room. Once inside, she quickly made her way into the back of the room by the hall door, standing silently.

* * *

Nagisa listened closely from down the hall, her ear pressed to the thin door as conversation carried. Stain – her father, she thought awkwardly – had a voice that was more gravely than she remembered but was still recognizable. He questioned Tomura about joining the LoV, who she could barely make out respond with a plan to 'destroy everything he doesn't like' so nonchalantly she almost huffed audibly.

There were gargled but loud insults exchanged between the two before things got deadly silent.

* * *

Stain's insults got quite a bit of backbone, his confidence blaring into something dangerous and unhinged. Tomura listened silently for a moment before gesturing behind him, "Kitten, bring the man a drink. He needs to relax."

Taking the que, she quickly crossed the room, picking up a half-filled glass Kurogiri placed on the bar and padded softly over to Stain. When in reach, she placed one hand on his bare shoulder and handed him the glass with her other, "Sir."

The two men behind her went still when Stain merely glanced at her before looking back at Tomura and continuing his rant, ignoring the glass offered to him.

Almost immediately, Tomura stood from where he sat at the bar top, "Kitten, leave the room."

Koneko hesitated, looking confused but not removing her hand from Stain's shoulder.

"Koia. Now." Tomura's voice had raised in volume and held no room for disobedience. Hurriedly, she backed up and placed the glass down on the bar before leaving the room, going down the hall, just as the _shing_ sound of metal weapons being drawn was heard from behind her.

* * *

Nagisa glanced back when the door open and slammed closed, Koneko leaning back on it and breathing hard. She stared down at her left hand with confusion and alarm.

"Koneko? What's wrong? What happened?" Nagisa moved towards the girl, but she immediately shoved her hands in her pockets and frantically ripped on her gloves.

"I touched him. Your father."

Nagisa blinked at her, "I'm sorry, what?" Was that some kind of code for something?

Koneko looked up at her almost frantically, "I couldn't change his will."

Seeing the anxiety in her best friend's eyes, Nagisa became afraid of an imminent panic attack about to blow. "Koneko, calm down." She marched over to the dresser and began to riffle through her friend's drawers until she found a pack of cigarettes, lighting one up with a nearby lighter and shoving it in Koneko's direction.

"This has never happened before!" Koneko ignored the cigarette as she sank back into the corner of the room and slid down the hall, "He's going to be mad!"

"No. No he won-"The sudden yells and slams from the bar room cut her off as the two girls looked at the door, unsure of what they were suppose to do.

Nagisa brought the still burning cigarette up to her own lips and took a deep inhale, questioning the situation. She wasn't sure what was going on down the hall, but she had no intention of going out there. As unhinged as they all were, she was choosing to stick with what she knows and not what she knew. Going out there could make things worse if her father recognized her. _Then again_, she took a glance at Koneko who was scratching at old scars on her arm, _staying in here with a ticking timebomb is just as detrimental. _She had seen what happened to others like them when their quirks failed, and it wasn't something she wanted to ever witness again.

After several, extended minutes of silence, the door suddenly banged open a few feet away, bringing an 'eep' from both girls. "Get out."

Nagisa took one look at a bloody, deranged Tomura and ducked underneath his arm and out the door, leaving behind Koneko to dress the wound on the furious man. She would find out what happened with her father tomorrow, tonight she would lock herself in her room and pretend she was somewhere else.

Images of memories from the facility filled her head as she made her way down the hall. Tortured screams and cries, sobs that carried down corridors from experimentation and training rooms when quirks failed…. And the tortured screams of another kind that would later follow from cells.


	3. Chapter 3

Nagisa looked up from her place in front of the TV, the bar as silent as usual as Koneko paced behind her, "Why do you keep pacing? Everything is fine."

The girl paused for a moment before resuming her pacing, "They've gone out with the nomu to cause chaos because they know your father is out hunting. Tomura is going to do everything possible to piss him off."

Nagisa gave a nod as she flipped a few more channels to the news, "And shit will go wrong and he'll throw a tantrum like always, so be ready."

The sound of soft pacing paused again, not starting up again this time, "What do you mean 'be ready'?"

Nagisa spun around in her chair to give a pointed look, "You know exactly what I mean. He's over dramatic and clinically insane. And you, my dear wifey, are his only too-willing-to-please punching bag."

Her best friend gave a loud sigh and ran her hands down her face, "I am NOT his punching bag!"

She huffed and returned her attention back to the news of nomu attacks, "Maybe not a physical one."

A flipflop smacked her in the back of the head after her low mumble.

"Get a hobby!"

* * *

The bar was more active than usual today, and she couldn't find herself complaining as she stared down a very tall, very attractive man. Only a second ago were they all gathered silently in the bar room, doing their own simple-minded activities when Giran had shown up. Barely a few words from Giran had snapped Tomura's fuse all the way down, causing him to decay the cardstock in his hand and snap at the man to get to the point.

Giran had originally irritated her, being overly eccentric in everything he did and constantly having that self-centered smirk on his face. The girls weren't allowed around him, or rather he wasn't allowed to meet them, showing Tomura's own confliction with trusting the broker. But she had warmed up to him rather quickly after he had stumbled upon Koneko and started to bring the girls gifts every time he came around. That warmth turned into probationary trust when he refused to give information on Tomura's 'new little pets' when Tomura set him up to be kidnapped and tortured for information by some nameless thug…. Who she later got to dispose of, she thought to herself with a smirk. Since then, he had become an annoying but affectionate uncle.

She watched as he pulled out a cigarette and handed it to Koneko, lighting it for her under Tomura's watchful eye before turning and handing one to her as well. Her thoughts immediately drawn to the tall man when he started to speak.

"You're a lot uglier in person." Her mouth fell open as her eyes snapped back to Tomura and then to Koneko, who looked dangerously close to crossing the room and smacking the handsome man straight in the face. A high-pitched giggle brought her eyes to the young girl beside him.

"You're friends with the great Stain, right!? Let me join, too! The League of Villains!"

She gave an audible sigh at the mention of her now imprisoned father, knowing the man would rile up Tomura after the nomu incident.

Tomura turned in his chair to face the newcomers, "Everything I hate in one package, a brat and a guy with no manners."

Koneko removed her gloves and pocketed them, Kurogiri jumping to the defensive and calling for Tomura to hear them out. Silently, she sent thanks to the warpgate. Would be a shame to let such a handsome and blunt man go to waste.

Giran came to the neutral defense, saying he doesn't care what Tomura does with them, but he will at the very least introduce them to the group. He gestured to the short blond-haired girl, giving a bit of background on her – in Nagisa's humble opinion – crappy combat tactics. On the run? Blood loss? Amateur.

"I'm Toga Himiko! I want to become Mr. Stainy! I want to kill Mr. Stainy!"

Nagisa openly blanched at this Toga girl, reaching up to rub her ear to see if she heard that right.

"Let me join the league, Tomura!" Toga's outburst and steps forward had Koneko out of her chair and standing between the two in an instant, but the pressure in the room remained still.

"I don't understand. Is she crazy?" Tomura asked Giran, surprisingly calm in the face of a true lunatic, but still Koneko did not move.

Giran grinned, "She can hold a conversation… for the most part. I'm sure you can find some use for her."

Giran turned his attention to the tall man who had otherwise remained silent and introduced him in a similar fashion. Nagisa found herself far more intrigued with him, as he had not yet been caught or even suspected of any crimes he might have committed.

"I'm uneasy about this. Does this organization really have a just cause?" He gestured calmly to the short blonde beside him, "If they're going to let this nutjob woman join them…"

Tomura came to Toga's defense, causing Koneko to sit back down, "Oi, oi. At least freak girl over here can state her own name. If you're a proper adult, how about you try doing that?"

Nagisa turned her attention back to the man, eager to hear more from him.

"I'm going by Dabi, now." He spoke just as calmly, his hands still shoved in his pockets as he let his eyes laze over everyone in the room, seeming to pause on her almost quizzically.

Tomura made no moves but she could see his hands gripping themselves a bit tighter, "That's not what I want to know. Your real name?"

"I'll tell you when you need to know it." Dabi caught her attention again, his attitude coming in fierce. "In any case, I will carry out the will of the hero killer."

Oh great, her father again. She already knew where this was going.

"Don't answer things I didn't ask." Tomura snapped, standing up from his chair very slowly, causing Koneko to stand up after he did. "Everyone's hung up on Stain. Stain this, Stain that, Stain, Stain, Stain."

Kurogiri gave a slightly panicked warning for Tomura to remain calm, "Shigaraki…!"

"It really puts me in a bad mood!" Tomura's final snap had everyone around her moving offensively. Kurogiri's warp gate had moved Tomura's hands, as well as Dabi's and even Toga's – who she faintly noticed had pulled a knife. Per usual, Koneko had flickered around the black hole and repositioned herself to snatch at Dabi. With quick reflexes and hopeful thinking, Nagisa reached out to snatch her best friend and pull her back, catching Dabi's eye again.

Kuro floated about to try and convince Tomura of reconsidering his rejection of the two, but barely got any words in before Tomura told him none-too-kindly to shove it. Giran watched as Tomura crossed the room silently, passing between the two newcomers and towards the exit, "Where are you going?"

"Shut up." Typical Tomura response, she thought.

"Koia." Tomura spoke evenly as he walked out the door and down the staircase. Not half of a second following before Koneko was two steps behind him and out the door.

Giran turned his attention to Nagisa at that point and rubbed the back of his head, "Kinda a young hothead, isn't he?"

"I thought he was going to kill us." Toga gave her input that no one asked for, followed up by Dabi. "He makes me sick."

"Tomura will come up with a suitable plan for everyone. In the meantime, get to know the place." Kurogiri started, thinking for a second before glancing at the door that lead to their living quarters and training rooms. "Just don't go in the back." Giran departed with those words, leaving the two newcomers with her and Kurogiri.

Nagisa took the opportunity to glance around for a lighter for the cigarette earlier handed to her, blinking when a small blue flame lit up in front of her face from the fingertips of Dabi.

"Thanks." She said dryly, tapping the tip of the cancer stick to the flame before taking a deep inhale.

"What's your name?" He questioned her, and she thought heavily for a moment about whether or not she should make up some dumb nickname like he did, before settling on the hard truth. "Akaguro Nagisa."

The two paused, a surprised grin ripping across Toga's face as Dabi slowly smirked down at her, "Like the hero killer?"

"He's my father."

The smirk on Dabi's face turned almost wicked before relaxing, and she watched as he pulled up a chair and sat backwards on it, his muscular but lean arms crossing in front of him on the table.

"Ah. I knew Stain was in league with the LoV. He brought you here?"

"No. He didn't know I was here." She found herself surprised by the amount of honesty that was pouring from her, and she could feel Kurogiri's concerned eyes on her, making sure she didn't spill anything too secretive.

Dabi just stared at her as Toga began to annoy Kurogiri at the bar counter, "What's your quirk?"

Nagisa gave back her own wicked grin, an almost full mimic of his earlier expression as her eyes narrowed dangerously on his unnaturally bright ones, "Why don't you come closer and find out."

Across the room, Kuro gave another warning snap, "Nagisa."

Nagisa only waved him off with her fingertips as she watched Dabi with an unearthly amount of focus, "Telepathic communication."

He arched up an eyebrow in response, the look in his eye changing with his emotions, and she could only imagine he went from surprised, to confused, to a little disappointed, before going back to that skeptical look he wore when he first exchanged words with Tomura. "Oh really? So, what am I thinking right now?"

"It only works on pigeons. And while you have a brain the size of a bird's, not even I can decipher the amount of imprudent audacity you have swirling around in that head of yours to insult someone like Tomura."

With that said, and not waiting on any response, she rose from her chair and crossed to the back door, slipping through it silently as Toga busted out peels of laughter at Dabi's expense. In the silence only broken by the girl's maniacal intakes of needed breath, Dabi questioned Kurogiri bemused, just as the door to the staircase opened, "Pigeons? Really?"

"Really." The white-eyed girl spoke as she glided through the room and back through the back-door Nagisa had already crossed through.

When the room was quiet again, Dabi turned to Kurogiri, "Tell me about them. The girls. Who are they really?"

The room went dead quiet for about five seconds before Kurogiri warped out of existence with a single, "Nope."

* * *

Tomura placed down his cup of sake as his eyes wondered around the bar room. The new recruits he had acquired over the past few weeks had become exceptionally useful. Some of them even moved into the building. He had been skeptical, afraid for the panic it would cause in the girls, but it had worked out well enough in the end.

Nagisa had become more hostile at first. She had exploded several cups of coffee using her heating quirk and even destroyed the hot water heater at one point, but had since calmed back down. Koneko, however, got into it with one of the recruits and blasted a hole through the weaker far wall. He had to admit his surprise that everyone got out of the room quick enough.

She didn't come back down on her own, though. He had forced her into staying nights in his room since then, and she only relented to do so after locking up her own room and threatening to rip the eyeballs out of anyone who dared go in there. She also took to weekly long walks, unaccompanied. Sometimes he would have Nagisa send pigeons out to watch her, but after the first few times he let it go.

Now, she sat across the bar from Twice, playing some card game with cigarettes as betting chips as she sucked on the back of her hand. A bad habit she had attained when thinking. He leaned over to flick her on the thigh and she immediately pulled her hand from her mouth and pocked it. He supposed her instant friendship with Twice came from his split personality, making it hard for him to be fake without contradicting himself moments later.

He swiveled around slowly to glance over the room again. Kuro was speaking to some other recruits, mostly listening to Compress tell some dramatic story. Toga was talking to some new girl, Sally. The later had her uses but otherwise was a major pain. The same pain that caused the giant hole in the wall to be replaced by a new dark window.

Turning his attention across the room, he could spot Dabi follow around Nagisa as she blatantly ignored him or responded with sarcastic comments. He was astonished that she hadn't caused destruction to the building, which lead him to trust she was more amused by it than she led anyone to believe. Even from here he could see the mischievous twinkle in her eye every time Dabi faltered at one of her sarcastic and stoic responses before resuming his following.

"Shigaraki! I thought you were in charge here. How do you handle such insolence?" Dabi called from across the room, drawing most attention to him as he visibly sizzled and steamed. He didn't catch what Nagisa had said to the man, but he had a pretty strong feeling it had something to do with a piece of equipment that gets most men riled up.

Turning fully to face them, he cocked his head lazily, "You are no less insolent. Not to mention, her quirk is useful. Perhaps, she is more worth to me than you. We shall see."

If Dabi was a lesser man, he would have stuttered. "Pigeons? How useful can pigeons be?!"

"Recon." Came the bored voice from beside him; casting his gaze in the direction of the white-eyed girl whose own gaze drifted over her hand of cards before placing one down in between the betting two.

"That's it?"

"Akaguro, why don't you share with the class." His probing had drawn the hard squeak of a stool against the floor and he found Koneko looking at him side eyed. He knew it bothered her, but it wouldn't hurt for anyone else to know. When he moved his eyes back in front of him, he saw the young girl get up from her chair and leave the room in his peripheral. Cards and cigarettes laid forgotten in front of Twice.

Nagisa watched her friend leave the room before turning her head back to Tomura, "Are you sure? How much of it do they need to know?"

"All of it."

Everyone in the room's attention seemed to fizzle out from whatever activities they engaged before; all eyes in the room drawn to the colorful girl as silence pulled over them. "Well," She spoke, plucking out a chair from a table and plopping in it backwards, "then I'll start from the beginning."

She watched Dabi pause before seating himself across from her, ice blue eyes focused and eerie. "We – Koneko, I, and others – have what's called a 'demonic quirk.'"

Her explanation was cut off by a small scoff from Dabi and a giggle from Toga. Twice was quick with commentary in the following silence, "A demonic quirk? Sounds scary. **Best get on your good side.**"

She blinked at him before taking a dramatic deep breath, hoping they would heed the warning to not interrupt again. "Basically, a 'demonic quirk' is a weird combination of multiple quirks that the government deems dangerous."

"All quirks can be dangerous. Is it just the fact you have multiple quirks? What are your others?" Dabi's interruption was met with Nagisa jutting her foot out at the wooden table between them. When the heel of her boot contacted the table leg, it snapped off and sent the table to the floor. As the man in front of her threw his chair back in a haste, she reached down to pick up the large and sharp broken chunk and pointed it at him.

"Interrupt me again and I will stick this through your abdomen until I feel intestines up to my elbow."

Kurogiri made a 'tsk' noise before leaving the room to get a broom, Tomura supposed.

"I'm not sure what they feel is demonic by it. As far as I am aware, everyone in the facility had multiple quirks, and had killed someone the first time their quirks manifested." Tomura stilled slightly at that. It wasn't something he didn't already know, but he still hated hearing it. He forced his shoulders to relax as Nagisa continued speaking. "I think someone reported it, the quirk or murder, to someone who knew about the facility. That's got to be why we got taken there."

"What facility?" Twice interrupted, following himself up quickly with his hands raised, "Sorry. Don't kill me. **Yet**."

The girl blinked at him lazily before reaching up to spin the piercing on the right side of her lip. "There are facilities, I don't know how many, that the government uses to house kids with 'demonic quirks.'"

Compress waited several moments into her silence to make sure he wasn't interrupting before voicing his disbelief. "I've never heard of these facilities."

She gave a snort as she glared up at him, "Of course you haven't. Run secretly by the government and pro-heroes. They don't want the public knowing they kidnap kids and torture them to death."

There was a shift in the room at that, mutters of "**Torture**?" "Pro-Heroes?" and other words she had used. "They really kill kids for having dangerous quirks?" Dabi was the one to ask, and Nagisa didn't seem upset about the question as she shook her head.

"I want to say 'no, not intentionally' but I never remember seeing any 'adult demonics' in the facility. They weren't killing them because they were dangerous. We were experimented on, to see if they could enhance or change our quirks. I don't think they understand why some people have these weird abilities," She glanced down at her arms as she twisted them this way, then that, "But they were desperate to find out."

Twice rubbed his chin as the room went silent again, "How did you get out?"

She gave a smile, but didn't look at anyone directly when she answered, "Hands."

Tomura could remember that day vaguely, but more vividly than most. He had received word about a secondary facility from All for One just a few days prior. He had been housing Koneko for about two weeks by then, and she hadn't spoken a word. When she wasn't beside him, he could find her sitting in the back of a closet, white eyeballs almost glowing in the dark. When he tried to introduce her to Kurogiri, she flickered back to the same closet. All for One was the only other person she had taken to by that point, and he assumed it was because he first explained to her that AFO had given him the information to find the facility.

Not comfortable leaving her alone, and assuming that she would be able to find her way around a facility better than he, he brought her with him and Kurogiri. First, he had to explain what he was doing, and that he wasn't _taking her back. _And though nonverbal, she got the gist.

Unfortunately, she wasn't any help. The facilities seemed to be set up completely different from each other, and she was more lost than he was.

When he made it to the "experiments' housing" wing, they found most of them dead in their cells. Disgusted, though not sure whether it was with himself, the government, or society, he had turned to destroy more of the building and head home. The three had disposed of all guards and 'doctors' by that point so he wanted to move quickly before anyone else arrived and an alarm raised. But when he went to leave the wing, he noticed the smaller light haired girl no longer beside him.

Traveling back down the hall, nervous about what he would find, he saw her standing in front of an enforced door. Blankly staring through the window slot into the cell as she stood up on her tippy toes, ungloved fingertips pressed into the glass. When he arrived back at her side, he glanced through the clear material to see a motionless body curled in the corner on a bare cot. The cells no different from the ones in the first facility. He turned to leave again, expecting the white-eyed girl to follow this time.

And then she spoke, for the first time. "She's alive."

He turned back around; eyes wide. About to comment on her speaking, and not acknowledging what she had said; he paused when he saw her step back and point at the door. "Please."

For whatever reason, he found himself unable to deny her. Reaching out, he let all five fingers touch the reinforced door, and the two watched it crumble away to dust. When the air settled, they found two pure black eyeballs staring at them from the curled-up figure.

. . .

"So... what are your quirks?" Dabi asked, one more time, snapping both Tomura and Nagisa from their daydream like memories. And this time Tomura was sure she would answer.

"That is for me to know, and you to pray not to find out."

Well…. That was an interesting surprise.

* * *

It was later that night that Dabi found Nagisa seated alone in the bar room. A glance at the clock alerted him to the small hand on the 2, and a glance at the girl alerted him to a small glass of sake. "Can't sleep?"

"Got thirsty." She responded dryly, bringing the glass up to her lips but pausing and licking the pink flesh instead. "It's no warm juice, but it'll do."

He smiled lightly, letting the confusion wash over him for a moment. "I think 'warm milk' is the phrase you're thinking of."

She blinked, moving the glass from her lips and turning her head to look at him for the first time, "What?"

"I assume you didn't have a lot of knowledge about the world in the facility, so you won't get common phrases right. Its warm milk that kids drink before bed, not warm juice."

She frowned at him but otherwise said nothing else, just took a few more swallows from the glass. Unsure if he had overstepped, he pulled a glass from behind the counter and poured his own shot before sitting beside her silently.

"You're not wrong." She spoke softly, and when she caught his head tilt in her direction, she elaborated. "I was maybe… six when they took me to the facility. I don't remember much before that and getting out of there was a culture throb."

'Culture shock' he wanted to say, but refrained. "How old are you now?"

She shrugged, lifting her hand to point across the room at the wall, "Dunno. That age."

He followed her finger to a small paper on the wall, a cutout from a newspaper of UA students from the festival. Some circled in red marker, some with blue pen scribbled beards he assumed Twice was behind. He stared at it, transfixed as his eyes focused in on a familiar face. "That age."

"I think so."

He let the quiet wash over him before asking another question, "You said facilities. More than one. Did you and Koneko come from the same one?"

She only shook her head in response. "Did you have friends in your facility?"

She went to shake her head again before thinking better of it and opening her mouth to answer instead. "I knew a few of them by face, but never talked. A few older kids communicated by tapping –"

"Morse code." He offered as she continued "- but I didn't understand. And I didn't try to learn after they got caught…."

"I don't think Koneko was housed in a similar facility. I don't think she ever saw anyone but the doctors and guards. She doesn't like to talk about the facilities, but I assume we went through the same types of experimenting and practice." She continued on, though it seemed like she was talking more to herself than to him at this point.

'Experimenting and practice.' She had said, but he understood the words were what society would refer to as torture. "You said the facilities were run by pro-heroes?"

She gazed down at the clear liquid in the cup, causing him to glance down at his own untouched one. "No. They didn't run them, but they were involved. I know because I saw some of them observing now and then. Like All Might. He did a lot of observing."

"Do you… have the same quirks?"

She blinked, startled as she glanced at him. The stupor seemed to shake from her as if realizing he was in the room for the first time. "What?"

"The demonic quirks. Are they all the same? Can you… flicker?"

She shook her head, a smile coming to her face, "You're just trying to con me into telling you my quirks."

He turned his hand over and held it in the air between them, a long blue flame spinning up from his palm and forming dramatic shapes at his will. "It's only fair, you know mine."

She smirked with a cocked-up eyebrow, "And you know one of mine."

He smirked back, lowering the flame into something small and dancing around his fingertips. "How many do you have?"

"Three. Working on four."

That answer brought him to pause, the flame flickering out as he lowered his hand back to his full cup. "Working on?"

She nodded, pouring herself more sake before downing it, "Hands is helping us. He thinks he can do what the facility couldn't… unlock more quirks? Make our quirks better? And he has, a little bit."

He thought about that heavily in the next few silent seconds, not able to stop his lips from moving. "Does he do the.. experimentation?"

She giggled; a sound far different from Toga's laughter. It was softer, sweeter. But not at all innocent. "Does he torture us, you want to know? No. I think we torture him. Though if we push ourselves too hard, it has negative effects."

He had always been a curious one by nature, so he was willing to beg. "Tell me. Please."

She turned to stare at him over the 'p' word, "I have two side quirks. I can telepathically communicate with pigeons."

"I know." He responded, dryly but hopeful.

"I – don't be a smartass – was only able to urge them up to eleven kilometers and report back when in the facility. Tomura helped me push it to a little over twenty-five kilometers since I've been here. I'm still working on it."

He gave a low whistle, not wanting to press her on the other side quirk. "Impressive. Don't tell Toga that, I heard she ate a bird once."

Nagisa turned to look at him again in horror, her large black eyes widening to almost astronomical levels, bringing a small chuckle from him.

"I don't know if it was a pigeon." He tried to placate but she shook him off as the lights dimmed a little more above them, clouds moving over the half moon beyond the window.

"The other side quirk you've seen. I can manipulate temperature. At the facility, I just thought it was body temperature." She blinked back at the line of liquor bottles in front of them as she considered her own words.

"But now?" He pulled.

"I think it's liquids. You know... the water heater…" She gave a sheepish grin and he was guessing the liquor was making her more open to him. She hadn't said a kind thing since he had moved in, and he was willing to get her drunk daily to keep her this carefree.

"My main quirk is how I got into the facility. I'll tell you about it some other time. But I killed someone. I didn't even realize I did it at first until I did it two more times." She reached up to rub at her eyes with her fingertips, a large burn scar on the back of her shoulder catching his attention as her movements pulled the shirt around her shoulders. "The fourth quirk I'm working on right now is a secret. Tomura thinks Koneko and I might possess the same one, so we're working on unlocking it together."

"How did that happen?" He ignored her mumbling as she trailed off, his eyes glued to a scar familiar and nauseating.

She followed his eyesight and then made a movement he assumed would be an eyeroll. "Endeavor. I tried to boil him one day at the facility. Wasn't the first time and it wasn't the last. He wasn't in a good mood that day. This one time I-"

Dabi wasn't listening anymore. The grip on the glass in his hand causing a spiderweb like crack deep within the crystal. Turning his face away from her and back towards the wall of bottles, he lifted the previously ignored cup to his lips and downed the sake inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Nagisa giggled as she watched Koneko rub her side and level a heated glare at the hand the reached down to help her off the mat. A sheepish smile came from the unmasked Twice, who had thoroughly and surprisingly whooped the girl's ass in the training room.

"**Your quirks are worthless**. If you're not trying to kill anyone, that is." Twice grinned, only for his hand to be smacked away. The white-eyed girl huffed hair out of her face and pulled herself to her feet, "My quirks would work just fine if you didn't turn to smoke."

"You lose a second and a half of concentration every time you flicker, he moves his clones around then. You should pay more attention." His explanation earned him a glare of his own before the girl's white eyes turned onto Nagisa.

"Whoop his fucking ass, Nagisa." She barked, roughly slamming her shoulder into the him as she walked past to collapse against the far wall and pick up a bottle of water. "Fucking know-it-all. Let's see you pay more fucking attention, dipshit."

The giggles from his side turned into whiskey filled laughter, the sound smooth and rich with a burning feeling left residing in his core as he followed the short girl onto the mat. It was a sound he didn't think he would ever get use to, but also a sound he never wanted to go without.

Shaking his head away from the random thought, he poured light blue flames into his palms, holding the burning appendages away from his sides and prepared for a quick match. Leveling his eyes at the girl across from him, he cocked his head as she just stood there, unmoving. Arms uncrossed, shoulders relaxed, one hip cocked out with her foot resting on the toe of her shoe.

"Don't worry Doll, I won't hurt you bad. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try."

"Don't think _Doll_, that your mocking will trick me into using my quirk against you." She retorted blankly, the only emotion the roll of her tongue as she mocked his words.

He gave an apathetic shrug, "Then the match will just end quickly. Your loss, really."

The flames around his hands pulled to his fingertips as his eyes followed the mat on the floor, his mind already coming up with a strategy to corner her. When his eyes flittered back up a second later, he caught a faint smirk on the corner of her lips. Faint, but glaringly obvious as her eyes mocked him.

He didn't have a chance to raise an eyebrow at her before his body began to burn hot, the flames on his fingers recovering his palms. As the temperature in his body raised, the flames crawled up his arms until they covered his shoulders. Try as he might to force it back down, it only continued to raise with the heat, growing higher towards the ceiling as he threw his head from one arm to the other as the flames danced into weird shapes.

His head flew back up to glare warningly at her, only to find her space empty. Suddenly, the flames on his arms died to a trickle as his body grew cold, the flat tip of a screwdriver pressed underneath his chin, "Quickly. You were right, your loss really."

_The fuck did she get a screwdriver from?_

Lashing around and drawing his flames back up, his mind went black.

Wind whipped around him, but he couldn't feel it. When his eyes opened, he found himself confused as to when he closed them. Birds surrounded him on trees, buildings, phone wires. Squawks, sounds he couldn't place, wings flapping, beaks pecking. He had never seen so many birds.

Then rapidly, they all flew up and off, skyward. His gaze followed them in amazement as he moved in a slow spin in place; the last one disappearing into the sky above him dropped his eyes back to where he was.

Where was he?

_A hallway?_

A bit wide to be a hallway, but there was no end on either side of it, just a continuing corridor.

A deep sound echoed, and echoed, and echoed.

_No, not echoed._ Repeated

What the hell was that sound?

_Footsteps_.

But not just footsteps. Heavy footsteps.

Footsteps that were achingly familiar.

A deep chuckle that ran sparingly across the gray walls like the paint that flaked off the stone.

"Should have known it would be you."

Just as the sound brought a ringing noise and a familiar face to his subconscious, red hot flames erupted down one wall of the endless corridor, carrying from one blackness to another. When his eyes followed it, pupils small and heart beating rapidly, the darkness from the end of the hall moved in on him, and swallowed him whole.

When the darkness faded, the ringing sound continued, bright lights from the training room the first thing he saw as he blinked his eyes open. Then, a face with dark eyes peering down at him. Not needing to focus to know who it was, he just stared up in blank confusion, waiting for his sense to come to him. A movement caught his attention as a hand pulled up in front of the face above him.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Her liquor smooth voice filled his ears and he blinked a few times, willing the world to come into focus. When it did, he found a middle finger a few inches from his eyes and a smirk concealed behind it.

He growled, though the sound came out more like a pained groan, "Get that out of my face before you find it in my mouth."

The thought of biting the appendage clean off, as painfully as possible, overshadowed the sexual innuendo in his words until her giggle cut him back to her, "What else of mine will you put in your mouth if you find it in your face?"

A loud sound that ended with the brash slaps of Twice's hand against Koneko's back as she coughed up the water she choked on had him blushing, his mind speeding up and he quickly pushed himself to his feet.

Whispers between the girls that followed the lines of "what did you show him" and "the facility" seemed to put the pieces in place as he rubbed his hands down his face.

"Well at least you were right, **it did end quickly**." Twice offered the same grin as before with an appeasing hand on his shoulder. His own hands brushed something warm as he rubbed them past his chin and down his neck. When he pulled them away, there was a small smear of blood below his finger.

Before he could question when he got physically injured, the sound of the door opening drew all their attention. Tomura, who had been gone all day, walked in with a jumpy smile. Whatever he had left to do had brought out excitement in the man.

"Dabi. You're leading the Vanguard Action Squad. Decide who you're taking and come up with a strategy. Come see me – "

He was cut off by the girl's noises of excitement, or adrenaline. Whatever it was, had his smile falling almost unnoticeably. "Don't take the girls – I'll give you more details, come see me in a minute."

The noises of excitement quickly turned into frustration and shock. "Hands, you can't be serious!" He didn't need to turn around to recognize the indignant noise had come from Nagisa.

"Tomura – " Koneko was cut off as the man left the room, and she quickly followed.

* * *

"Tomura. Tomura. Damnit, stop ignoring me." She called behind him as she followed him down turns and up stairs until they were on the hall where his own room resided. His steps didn't falter, but he didn't turn to look at her either.

"Mm."

She huffed, not deterred and instead seemingly encouraged by his hummed reply. "Tomura, you can't do this again. You can't just keep us on such a short leash."

He didn't blink as he slowed down towards the door to his – _their_, he gave the warm afterthought – room. "You're not on a leash."

"Then why aren't we going?!"

"Do not, raise your voice to me." He stopped in front of the door, turning around to glare at her until the fight left her face and she just stared at him. "Because I have made my decision."

"You told Dabi to pick who he wants with him! Why the hell are we not going!?"

"I do not know what or who is going to be waiting there. I don't know if Dabi can do this without casualty." He hissed quietly, the words burning out like something sharper than jagged glass, before solidifying and carrying louder in the empty hall. "I am trying to keep you safe!"

"_I don't need you_ to keep me safe!_ I don't need_ _you_ to hold my hand! I survived the facility just fine _without you_, I don't need you babying me now!"

Something in him cracked painfully, the feeling inside his chest resonating into an actual sound that filled the empty hallway. The only thing left with him after she flickered away were a few drops of blood on the floor and a ringing in his ears. With a rough breath released over trembled lips, he leaned back on the door and shut his eyes.

* * *

He had left his short meeting with Tomura and Kurogiri a half hour ago and couldn't seem to release the restlessness that resided in him. He didn't have any qualms or worries about the Vanguard Action Squad, but he was ready for it now. The next few days wait would be nerve-wracking, but at the very least would give the others time to get their shit together.

Left with nothing else to do, he decided to seek out his favorite little stress reliever to see what kind of fight she would give him today. With that thought in mind, he let a grin fall on his face as he entered the almost empty bar room. A quick glance around proved his new subordinates had all left to their own homes or more private locations.

When his eyes fell on the sole occupant in the room, his grin widened. "Hey there, Doll. Where's your sister?"

Full black eyes rolled back before landing on him, newly empty martini glass rolling between her ringers, "What, you didn't hear that loud thunderclap sound?" She paused, and he guess he wore his confusion clear. "When she flickers farther than her body will allow, it makes that sound. She's well outside the city by now."

A few quiet blinks were exchanged as understanding crossed his face, "Meeting with Tomura went well, I see."

"Not still bitter, are you pumpkin?" She grimaced at that one, bringing a soft chuckle from him, "Okay, okay. Not pumpkin."

She shook her head and stood to walk behind the bar, rewetting the glass with a murky white vodka. "I'm not mad anymore. Kuro told me what the plan is, I wouldn't want to upset it by being seen too early. Though I have to say, there's no guarantee this will even work. He might not remember me."

He watched her slide the glass across the bar at him as he nodded in agreement. "Perhaps, but I find you hard to forget, angel eyes." He lifted the glass and gave a sniff to the sweet and sour smell.

"Angel eyes… are you fucking serious?" The mocking voice rose his eyes to her dark ones and he quickly corrected himself before taking a sip of the cocktail, "Demon-eyes?"

"Oh, how romantic." She cooed, reaching back over the counter to snatch the drink from him and take several long gulps.

"Look Sweetie pie – "

"Oh gods, no! Don't even try that one. Tell me about this strategic plan of yours to kidnap boomboy instead."

"Oh, you know, your typical 'light the forest on fire, use clones to distract heroes, gas out the kids and snatch up the boombox', Sunshine."

She frowned at him, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with his explanation, "Muffin."

The frowned deepened. "Well, I just want you to know that if it was really up to me," He reached out to take her glass from her hand and set it aside, using his other hand to keep hers over the bar. "Even though I don't know your full quirk and abilities…" With a gentle tug, he led her arm over to him, pulling her up to lean her upper body over the bar top. He didn't let up until she had to pull her knees up to crawl onto the counter to stay in his unpredictably gentle grip.

"I would take you with me, _my sweet_," With her fully perched on the bar counter, he used his other hand to grab her chin softly and pull her face towards his. "_Sweet, little dove_." His lips brushed against her cheek, his eyes barely catching the small leer on her face.

"I would get those fingers off my face before you find something in your mouth."

She teased the warning, and he didn't back down to the challenge. "Maybe that's exactly what I want."

A small hand ghosted over the scar tissue on his face, fingers dancing down the purple skin on his neck as she readjusted herself to sit on the counter, legs falling spread on either side of him over the side. "You're going to have to talk less if you want to play marionette with me, doll."

His hands immediately gripped the top of her shorts, unbuttoning them slowly as his eyes narrowed on her, "Oh you'll move for me no strings attached."

She lifted her hips up to allow him to pull the material down, her exposed skin settling back on the cold bar top as she leaned back on her elbows, "Shut up."

If possible, he narrowed his eyes further as his smirk revealed his teeth. "Gladly."

He dipped his head down between her legs, nipping his way up her thighs before biting down into the soft inner flesh, reveling in the quiet gasp that jerked out of the girl beneath him. He gave a warm huff of approval against her heated center, tearing his gaze from her face to appreciate the honeyed pink flesh in front of him. She seemed to wiggle against the sensation of his breath for a second before stopping herself. "No, I told you to move for me. I want you writhing."

He didn't give her the opportunity to cut back an insult at him before pressing a deep kiss into the nook between her legs. A silent intake of breath from above him before she hummed pleasantly and rocked her hips up for him. Pleased at the full consent, he moved a hand from her outer thigh to tease just below his tongue. The warm, wet appendage giving a few swirls and presses before pulling back to let his lips suck against her.

She breathed out her excitement, her body relaxing fully back against the bar. Part of him couldn't believe she was letting him do this, the other part didn't want to question it in fear it wasn't really happening. His other hand left her hip to press his thumb into where his tongue was a second ago, slow circles rubbed with the pressure. His tongue replaced his fingers, flattening and twisting as he tried and failed to hold back a grin at her frustrated sigh.

"Are you just going to tease me all day or what?"

He chuckled against her, sinking his teeth into the soft skin beneath his lips as he thrusted a sudden two fingers inside of her. He angled his fingers up and pressed hard in his thrusts, his tongue flattening between bites and kisses as she finally begun to wiggle and writhe underneath him. "Yes..!" It was a breathy sound, but he could practically hear the 'finally' she had snapped in her tone and he drew back to give disapproving nips to her thigh. "Behave." The word rumbled from his throat in a growl as he glared up at her halfheartedly.

She didn't meet his eyes as she closed hers to keep them from rolling, "_Yes, daddy_."

He felt his breath hitch at her words before his lips pressed full into her again, his fingers rolling into a steady pace as he gave a hard bite before sucking greedily at the swollen bead. The churning ball of heat in his abdomen pulling hard at his control. Thin fingers tangled into his spikey hair and gave a sharp pull at every bite he gave. At some point, he lost track of himself as he adjusted his body into a more comfortable position, resisting the urge to crawl over her on the counter. As his eyes pressed harder shut to block out the images of another part of his body thrusting into her relentlessly, the thighs underneath him begun to quiver and draw together around his face before pulling apart and repeating the movement.

He slipped a hand underneath her to give a hard squeeze to her bottom when he nipped at her thigh in warning, "Not yet, baby."

She let out an audible whine and rolled her hips again, an almost silent 'please' accompanied the third roll of her hips. "Not yet."

His mouth traced out the feelings he didn't agree to acknowledge in his head, his free hand gripping her shaking thigh and pulling it away from him. His eyes lifted to see her pleased, concentrating face. Her eyes squeezed together in an almost pained way as her lips continuously parted in what she wished was silent sounds, but nothing loud enough to draw attention from outside the room. Her hips bucked underneath him before her hands tightened in his hair and she grounded herself back to the counter.

He retracted his mouth, licking at his swollen lips as he gazed at her heaving body admiringly. Lifting up to press a kiss into her navel, he whispered against the skin on his way back down, kissing every inch as he made his way around the dripping source of sweetness. "That's my good, little girl."

She gave a louder whine, ripping a hand from his hair to grab the edge of the counter, "Please, daddy!"

A smile pressed into her thigh, a soft lick of his tongue, before returning to her center, "Okay, dove."

He savored the shaking that came with her release at his approval, drilling the feeling and taste of the moment into his memory. When her body finally stilled underneath him with a sigh, he drew away and gazed at her.

She breathed hard before opening her eyes to glance at him. A smirk crossed her mouth, the girl suddenly pulling up and away from him, slipping her shorts back on from the floor and snatching the forgotten martini glass.

She called over her shoulder as she made her way towards the door, "Make sure to clean off the bar or Tomura will slaughter everyone."

Blinking back the momentary shock, he reached up to wipe the wetness from his face with the back of his hand before glancing back at the glistening bar counter. Feeling played, he rolled his head back and gave an audible groan. The throbbing erection straining against his pants a brilliant and incredibly painful reminder of his own failings for hours to come.

* * *

He gave a short sigh as he removed his mask and pulled out of his car. He wasn't mysophobic, he just didn't have the same tolerance that the others did. Giving a glance around at the distance between him and the other people going about their day, he leaned on the hood of his car and took a deep breath of fresh air. How he missed the fresh air. The city had always been a terrible place to live. Too much smog, too many people, too many cars. And so much _trash_.

His eyes pulled from person to person that walked around, before landing on a young girl sitting atop a short brick wall that separated a higher grassy area from the pavement that leveled beneath her feet. Her hair was a dyed, multiple piercings, and her eyes entirely white – something he found himself inherently curious about – but his gaze immediately dropped to her red gloved hands that gripped the russet bricks on either side of her bare thighs. Her strange looks had caught his attention so far out from the city, but that wasn't what held it. She seemed to be watching people, but not really seeing anything at all. Like lost in her own thoughts, but not thinking.

He couldn't put his finger on it, truly. But he had seen a similar look in the mirror, and had a good idea about how she was feeling. The look on her face held a strange sort of hollowness he felt when he wasn't active with the yakuza or _cleansing_. Despite what most people might believe, it wasn't an empty feeling. He didn't long for anything, nor did he feel any type of sadness. He just felt hollow. A bad feeling, but something dark that one grows accustomed to. It wasn't anything he could precisely describe, but he could recognize it on others when he saw it. Admittedly, it wasn't a common feeling.

He watched the girl pull a cigarette out of her pocket and struggled to light it against the wind, her hand concealing the flame from his view. Despite himself, he found his lips quirking up to a smirk. _What a dirty habit,_ he glanced a look back through his darkened windshield at the center console, already pushing himself up off the hood of the car. Before he knew what he was really doing, he crossed the pavement of the park till he stood in front of her, pulling a sturdier lighter from his pocket and lighting up the stick hanging between her pink lips.

She glanced up at him as she inhaled, the silence between them cold until white smoke poured out from between her parted lips; his eyes trained on the current coming from her mouth before meeting her burning ones. "Kai."

Her eyebrows both cocked, and the corner of her mouth pulled up in amusement, though he wasn't sure if it was at his expense or not. "Koneko."

The cold silence didn't return on his end, but it must have returned on hers because she turned her eyes away from him and back out at the people she wasn't truly looking at. Without prompt, he stepped up between her spread thighs to draw her blank eyes back to him. The moment they focused on him, he leaned down to snare her lips under his, his white gloved hands gripping just behind her knees roughly.

Not at all surprised to feel her respond to him, he pulled back and released her legs, watching her drop the cigarette to the concrete beneath her hanging feet. With a short appraisal of the almost blank look on her face, he found the intrigue that rested behind it and stepped away from her. "Get in." He jerked his head softly towards the car he knew rested at the curb and watched her hop off the brick wall, digging the point of her shoe into the cigarette to smother it, before turning around and leading her to the car.

After she had climbed into the passenger side, he backed away from the spot the car rested in and pulled off at a legal pace, back into the city towards his townhome in silence. A few blocks out of the more natural neighborhood, he flipped open the center console and picked out a cigarette, lighting it and taking a long drag himself before handing it over to the girl and cracking her window.

An offered smile was all she gave in response before inhaling the replacement and returning her gaze to where it rested outside the glass.

Halfway there, he took time to watch her out of the corner of his eye. He found himself a little amused that he could tell where she was looking despite the lack of pupils and irises; he could see her eyes glide lazily over street signs and landmarks, presumably marking where she was going to know her way home. That thought caused a sudden jerk of adrenaline and regret to wash through him. What the hell was he doing? Picking up some random girl in a park? He had enemies, and the way her eyes followed the streets gave him the sudden instinct that she could be employed by one. Maybe sent to spy, maybe sent to kill. _Or worse_, he thought with a glance down at her gloved hands, _she could be a hero. _The last thing he wanted was someone with an insane quirk in his bed.

"Tell me about you." He spoke before he could stop himself, not that he was going to. He needed to gauge what she was intending, and he could only do that if she spoke.

She turned her head to him blankly before giving a coy smile, "You don't care." Before he could respond to that, not that he was sure how with the knowing honesty she had spoken with, she dropped the cigarette butt out the crack in the window and leaned over the console to unbutton his pants. Immediately bending her head down to tease him to attention – which he begrudgingly admitted wasn't too hard considering why he had called her into the car – and pull her warm lips around him.

He shut his eyes briefly before remembering he was driving, his hands both moving up to grip the top of the steering wheel tightly as he suppressed a groan. That sound pulled from his lips anyway when he felt the warmth slide all the way down, her tongue rolling against the vein on the underside of his erection. His left hand fell down to tangle in her hair, pressing her further down before pulling her up and repeating the process at a quicker pace. Delighted with the tingle that shook up his spine when she hummed against him in approval, he shifted gears and floored it. His speed blew past the legal limits, eager to get home before her speed on him picked up; he wasn't willing to experience that releasing pleasure anytime soon.

The moment the car pulled to a screeching stop in the driveway, he yanked her back a bit gently, not watching as she licked the salty saliva from around her lips, and ripped the keys from the engine. Seconds never came to pass as he hopped out of the driver's seat, not bothering to readjust his pants, and slammed the door behind him. He didn't give her a second to refocus before crossing the front of the car and ripping open the passenger door.

A yank on her wrist brought her up out of the car before his rough grip grabbed the back of her thighs and hoisted her up to his hips. On instinct her legs wrapped around him and her arms draped over his shoulders to keep herself level; his head dipped down to recapture her lips in something just as rough but twice as searing as the kiss in the park. He kicked the car door closed behind him and turned back towards the house, his lips not leaving hers.

His grip adjusted under her bottom to unlock the front door, apathetically leaving it wide open as he crossed two hard-wood stairs from the sitting room and into the kitchen. His lips dropped from hers down to her neck, only pulling away long enough for her gloved fingers to pull his shirt over his head as he deposited her on the high counter. He sucked greedily at the slightly salty skin, his own gloved fingers wrapping around the straps on her shoulders before yanking the material down to around her navel. He pulled back at her breathy sigh to snatch the bundled fabric and the top of the shorts that rested under it. His eyes trailed over the tattooed and pierced skin he found underneath as he slid the cotton down her thighs and flung it to the floor.

Righting himself, he grabbed her hips and yanked her towards him, his hands falling to her thighs and gripping hard enough that he knew bruises would remain for more than a week to come. "What do you want?" He breathed against her cheek.

"You." The response came soft, almost sweet, as she arched her bare chest into his. Her fingers twirled in the shaggy brown hair on the back of his head. An unimpressed growl pulled from his throat in response to her answer, his lips dropping down to press a kiss to the underside of her jaw, "What do you want."

She waited until he lined himself up at her already throbbing entrance before answering, "Hurt me."

His grip on her thighs tightened as he slammed inside of her at the words, not letting up his thrusts for a second of adjustment. A mixed sound of pleasured pain came from both of them at the instant pressure, his lips diving back for hers after a mewing sound that called similar to "gods, yes" came from the girl.

It wasn't until they had fully exhausted themselves on the counter that he practically ripped her back up and moved them to the couch. Then the bath. And finally, the bed, long after the sun had begun to rise. At some point, the front door had finally been closed, but neither of them was sure when.

* * *

Hours of training and a few cold showers… and one very warm, very handsy, shower had lessened the pressure he carried all day. A glance at the clock alerted him to the fact it was 15 minutes past one in the morning, and he was sitting at the very same bar drinking a cup of coffee.

A warm smile graced him at the flutter of memories he gathered at this counter over the past few weeks.

_He sat down with a popping-stretch and a groan, rubbing his eyes with two fingers. He had been living in the bar house building for a few days now and couldn't believe the hour at which the occupants awoke. "Is that coffee?" He glanced up at the light haired girl who was pouring a mug full of frothy teak brown liquid. At her answering nod, he requested, "Can I have some?"_

_Nagisa gave a sputtering cough from his right, staring at him wide eyed and slightly humored before glancing away with a restrained grin. He glanced back over as Koneko poured another mug and handed it to him before picking up her own, rounding the bar, and exiting the room at a slow but steady pace. _

_He wrapped his hands around the warm porcelain and brought it to his lips, the thick sweet smell unfamiliar but delicious. He took a long sip of it before lowering from his lips and debating silently. With a confused blink, he glanced up at Nagisa._

"_This is fucking disgusting." _

"_That's Koneko's coffee. Tomura apparently spent a long time trying to figure out what combination of things she would drink."_

_He sat it down and shoved it across the counter, watching Nagisa move to the cabinet to pull out black coffee and instant cappuccino containers. "Its fucking disgusting," he repeated unnecessarily before nodding his head to one container, "Black, please." _

"_It's half black coffee and a quarter instant milk-tea. Don't know what the other quarter is and I'm not about to ask." She giggled, dumping out the mug he pushed across the counter and adding the black coffee grounds to the coffee pot before starting her own mug of cappuccino. _

"_That is…. Fucking disgusting." He found himself smiling through the unusual taste on his tongue as it was replaced by the sweetness of the feminine laughter that followed. _

His chuckle at the memory was cut off by the sound of the door opening behind him. Glancing back over his shoulder, he faltered at the sight of Sally clad in only purple lace lingerie.

"What the fuck are you doing."

She walked towards him, ignoring the way he turned away from her and back to his coffee that Nagisa had _generously_ reheated to _boiling_ temperature with her quirk before going to bed a bit ago.

When she appeared on his other side, she reached a hand out to place on his thigh. "You don't have to be shy, Dabi. You've been walking around full of sexual frustration all day."

He glared at her and shoved her hand off his thigh, "Don't touch me, Sally."

She frowned before quickly replacing it with a sickeningly sweet smile, "You don't want me to touch you? Maybe you want to touch me… or watch me touch me?"

He just stared at her, unamused. "You've been walking around half hard all day, Dabi. I want you, you want me…"

He stood then, taking a few steps back and dumping the boiling coffee over her head, "I don't want to have sex with you."

Leaving the screaming girl in her pained fit of shock and rage, he left the room quickly. When he blinked away his frown, he found his feet had taken him to Nagisa's door subconsciously. He raised his hand to knock, and stood there for a few minutes before lowering his fist and turning around.

He looked down with a shake of his head, _No point in disturbing her now_. He didn't know why he had come here anyway. If she wanted to be with him, she wouldn't –

His thoughts cut off when the door behind him opened, a spread of gold light lighting up the shadows of his feet.

"Are you coming in or are you going to stand there all night?


	5. Chapter 5

AN: It has come to my highly embarrassed attention that there are several dozen people reading this fanfiction other than the girls it was intended for. With that in mind, the Hufflepuff in me feels the need to remind all readers that this story contains graphic material and painful adult situations. While many scenes in this story are based on real life events that have happened, I want to make it clear that I do not condone the behavior and scenarios and I highly encourage readers to understand that just because these things do happen, does not make it safe or acceptable.

* * *

**"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm."**

**\- Charles Kettering**

* * *

She had no idea why she let him in her room that night. But she had sensed him outside the door and when his hesitation lasted too long before knocking, she had gotten up to greet him, unable to turn him away.

Maybe it was the heat that was still coiled in her belly from their earlier activities. Maybe it was guilt for stringing him along with random bouts of flirtation in-between insults, or even the embarrassment she had left him in after receiving the pleasure he was oh-so-willing to give.

Regardless of the reason, she had invited him in, sat back on her bed and waited for him to speak as his eyes wondered around the room. After several minutes, it became clear he wasn't going to and she inwardly sighed.

"So, how's the weather?"

The look he gave her was so bewildered that she let that sigh come out audibly, "I mean what are you doing here?" He only looked away and shook his head, true confusion on his face. "I don't know."

"Well I told you I was tired and going to bed, so I'm going to do just that." She hummed matter-of-factly, slipping back the large blanket and sliding down the silky cold sheets. He nodded, lifting himself off the bed without looking at her still. "Right. I'll just-"

"Dabi."

He turned towards her, a defeated but semi curious look on his face. She peeled back the blanket to the empty space beside her, "Get in."

A small grin pulled to his face as he turned back towards her, kicking off his shoes and making his way to the foot of the bed. Pulling off his jacket and quickly following up with his belt, he ignored the open spot at her side and crawled on top of her. Waiting until he was fully over her, he dropped his full weight down, receiving a loud 'oof' as the air pushed out of her.

"Get off of me you fat crocodile!"

He followed her up with a chuckle and rolled off of her, staring up at the painted ceiling before looking around the room again. Her eyes followed his to see the room from someone else's perspective. Slightly messy and overpacked, the entire place was covered with tapestries, knickknacks and trinkets. Suddenly, she realized how there were no photos in the room…. She should change that.

Turning back to his face and seeing the question in his eyes as he looked over the excessively covered dresser, she pointed to a bookshelf. "Koneko has a tendency to see something and bring it to you. Literally anything. And gift-giving isn't exclusive to her." She singled out a large text on animals on the third shelf, "Much like many birds, raccoons, dolphins, penguins, cats, and hyenas."

He chuckled, picking up some random throw pillows from the bed and examining them, "Should I start bringing you gifts too then?"

"I don't think there's anymore room in here." She thought seriously, unprepared for his next comment.

"We could knock down a wall and make one big room to share."

She sputtered, searching his face for a hint of a joke, but the shock in his eyes showed that he wasn't even aware he was saying his thoughts out loud. He blushed lightly and just rolled over to wrap his arms around her and pull her back into his chest. "Ignore me." He muttered sheepishly into her shoulder.

She laid there awkwardly for what felt like hours before a soft pair of lips kissed just behind her ear. Warmth spread over her as the lips moved downward so slowly, kissing every centimeter they moved. A purr escaped her as she arched her neck to give him more flesh to tease and he responded with a pleased nip at her jugular.

Her breathy gasp had him rolling back on top of her, keeping himself held up by his arms this time as he watched her roll onto her back underneath him. Without hesitation, she arched up to bring her lips to his; with that, there was no turning back.

Clothes went flying: first his shirt, then his hands shank under hers teasingly stroking her sides before slipping the large fabric from her. He wasted no time marking every inch of her with small love bites and suckled bruises. Her panting breath hitting new notes with every sensitive spot he found.

When she was left in only a purple shade of panties that she could tell he just _loved_ by the way his eyes rolled back when he gazed down at her to take in the full sight, he stripped off his very annoying pair of jeans and crashed his mouth back onto hers.

The way he rocked his hips into her enticed her to release a moan against the tongue massaging its way beyond her lips. The thin two pieces of fabric between them did nothing to hide how hard he was, nor conceal her own wetness that had soaked through both garments within minutes.

He tangled a hand into the hair on the back of her head, his other hand holding onto her hips to better grind himself into her core, releasing his own moans into the flushed skin on her neck.

"Dabi," She breathed as he sucked greedily at her pulse, continuously lapping at the skin trapped between his pursed lips. The heat between them had grown quickly; her core aching with a pain unfamiliar to her as her hips arched to meet his with each stroke. The intense dry humping encouraging her nails to mark into his back and shoulders.

"Dove." He groaned, pulling back and pressing his forehead into hers as he reached down to strip them of their last remaining clothing. Free from their confines, he aligned himself before kissing her deeply and thrusting fully inside of her.

And just like that, the passion was broken.

* * *

He froze completely, ignoring the painful pulsing between his legs as he lifted himself onto his hands and stared down in shock at the trembling girl beneath him. "You're… " He breathed out hard, finding himself unable to blink as he gawked wide-eyed at the girl wearing a smile and a half-lidded look of contentedness.

"Not anymore." She purred, dragging a hand into his hair and rocking underneath him slightly to get him moving.

A hand immediately flew to her hips to stop her movement, keeping her still beneath him. "You should have told me." He accused, unable to decipher his feelings but knowing guilt was one of them.

He watched with incredulity as she rolled her eyes, "It's not a big deal, Dabi."

"It IS a big deal, Nagisa!" He steadied his hand on her when she attempted to rock against him again with a whine. "This is something that's supposed to be special."

* * *

Her exasperation quickly turned to something ugly inside of her. His words angered her and also hurt; and she struggled to understand why. Because he was totally killing the mood? Because he didn't think he was special? Because he didn't think she could make these decisions for herself? Because being a girl was the most unfair shit in the world?

Some part of her brain refused to let her think that the anger and pain came from the idea that he didn't want to be her first because he had no intention of being involved with her after this.

"It is NOT a big deal, Dabi! Virginity is a concept. Who your 'first' is doesn't have to be special, nor does it truly mean anything." Words of self defense died on her tongue, unable to kill the mood further by telling him many facts of life: rarely did anyone end up with their first, most people forget about their first, and as long as it isn't a traumatic experience, it isn't irrelevant to your sexual life thereafter. "I can make my own decisions about how 'special' I want it to be."

She watched him shake his head in disbelief and disagreement, but he didn't pull out of her. Nor did he move at all. She could feel him still twitching inside of her; biology telling him how lucky he should feel as his mind and instincts waged war on each other.

Ignoring the slightly painful pressure, she bucked hard underneath him, "If you're not going to fuck me, get out." She seethed, unable to rid herself of the ugly feelings. "You're killing the mood."

His eyes snapped up and glared down at her, before softening. She gathered that he got the feeling he was the one making the moment less 'special' with his attitude, but still he didn't move one way or the other.

Determining she would much rather push past this new awkward encounter rather than ruin it completely and be left horny, alone, and aching, she made a quick decision. Softening her expression and voice, she brought her hand to his cheek to stroke his face tenderly. "Please, I want this. I want you."

His body language softened above her, but the appendage still buried painfully deep inside of her twitched again at her words. Pulling his face down to hers to press their foreheads against each other, she whispered to him, letting her lips brush against his with each word. "If you don't want to fuck me, then make love to me. Dabi, I want you to make love to me."

Her words made the decision for him as he pulled himself out of her torturously slow, and for a moment she was flooded with disappointment that the whole situation ended so horribly before he suddenly thrusted all the way back into her. The unexpected intrusion making her earlier breathy moans into high pitched gasps as he paused after each thrust to give her time to get use to the stretched feeling before repeating the slow withdrawal and re-plunge. His thrusts changing between quick and hard to slow and teasing, then back again.

Panting moans turned into ridiculous sobs as his torture lasted far, far too long. His gentle kisses moved from her lips to her cheeks, his tongue tasting away all the salty tears from his torment. "Please," She sobbed without embarrassment, the painful burn from before they had lost all their clothes having nothing on what she was feeling now, "Please."

His earlier apprehension shifted into animal instinct and a perverted personality pulled out of him, ready to dominate her conscious as well as her body. His tear-strained lips moved to beside her ear, his deep breath practically burning her skin and breaking her eardrums. "Can you feel it, Dove? Can you feel my love for you?" Her sexual hazed mind didn't register his kinky but overly sentimental words as one of his large hands cupped its way up her chest and tweaked at a perked nipple.

'Please' being the only answer she gave him, bringing a deep but silent chuckle into her cheek. Still, his slow movements kept steady, his other hand making sure to hold her hips down from bucking into a quicker pace. "Are you ready for more, Sweet?"

She gave off a pitiful wine and his husky voice turned into a growl, "You want me to fuck you now, little dove?" She nodded frantically, a small scream coming out of her as his higher hand tweaked harder, and his lower one pulling from her hip to tap into her clit torturously.

"Say it. Tell me you're ready for me to fuck you into this bed. Tell me how hard you want me to take you. Say it, little dove, and I'll give you everything."

She whined again, opening her eyes to stare into his smoldering and far-gone ones, "Please, Dabi, fuck me. Fuck me!"

Her words answered with his promise, his slow pace immediately turning into rough, unrhythmic rutting. He gave her only minutes to get use to the new pace before pressing fingers into her clit and rubbing just as uncontrollably.

Her sobs turned into sounds less tortured but even more pleasured, her sounds drowning out his own. His large arm reached back to tuck her knee around his elbow and pull her leg up, the slaps of his skin on hers heightening their pleasure. She could feel herself flutter and tighten on him as his pace became even more unsteady and rough; though he continued to slide so easily into her tight walls, his earlier torture redefining his next words into something that would make her blush for the rest of her life.

"You're so wet for me, love. Just for me, such a good girl." He growled into her neck and she felt a hot coil build into her throbbing abdomen alongside his words. "Are you ready, little dove? I want you to cum for me." The coil pulled painfully tight as he raised his lips to press behind her ear, "Cum for me."

Her hips lifted off the now soaked mattress as her eyes slammed tighter shut, meeting his rough thrusts a final few more times as the coil snapped. Her delighted sob flooding the room, but she didn't hear it over his own low moan as his hips twitched into a stutter and his arms moved to wrap low around her lifted hips and hold her flush against him.

When she came down, his movements had stopped but his cock still twitched deep inside of her, dripping the last of himself inside her hot, fluttering passage. She panted hard as he slowly removed himself from her and flipped them onto the drier side of the bed. Laying her on his chest, he pulled the blanket up around them and rewrapped his arms around her. When their overheated sweaty bodies cooled down into a chill, he pressed his lips into her forehead and sighed before drifting off, perverted words long forgotten.

Only moments before she fell asleep did she realize how _slowly_ and _painfully_ Koneko was going to kill her for not using protection.

* * *

She was pleasantly surprised to find him still in her bed when she awoke the next morning, and spent all day blushing furiously. This seemed to amuse him greatly and he took every opportunity to whisper nasty things into her ear. She found herself feeling incredibly lucky that almost no one was in the building last night. Some of them were gathered in the bar room now, however, ready to meet today to leave for the Vanguard mission.

"I'm just saying: an apple a day can keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough."

Nagisa raised an amused eyebrow at Dabi, and he just gave a wolfish grin in defense of his comment as Twice choked on his laughter. Any rebuttal she was going to give was whisked away when the door down the stairs opened, and after several long minutes, the door to the bar opened as well. Her eyes narrowed on the white-eyed girl who dragged herself in, looking half dead.

It was Kurogiri who stole the words right out of her mouth, "Where the _fuck have you been_." Nagisa took a moment to stop and look back at the warpgate, not use to him using such expletives or having such an angry tone, as Dabi turned to look at the new arrival and let out a low whistle.

"You look thoroughly fucked." He took a pause as if breathing the air would enrage her as she walked past them, "**Must have been a long night.**" Twice finished for him.

The girl ignored the jab, but Nagisa stood up in front of her to block her path, "You better thank your fucking stars. Kurogiri managed to keep Tomura busy all night AND morning, so he doesn't know you never came home."

Koneko raised an eyebrow in surprise but obvious appreciation in Kuro's direction, before blinking back a stoic look and moving past Nagisa, "I'm going to go take a shower, and then go to bed. Don't wake me." She hesitated her steps as an afterthought, "Please."

Nagisa just reached out to pull back the girl's shoulder, "Where have you been, really?"

A short giggle came across the bar, seated by the newly installed blacked out window was its perpetrator, "I'd say that shiny black car that dropped her off three blocks over had something to do with it."

Koneko cracked, her bloodshot eyes losing their haze of insomnia as she snapped her neck towards the dirty blonde-haired girl, "Nobody asked for your fucking opinion, you ignorant cow!"

Nagisa's response came just as harsh and instantaneous, "Don't insult bovine, Koneko! Answer."

"Answer what?" A deeper but bored voice spoke up behind her, causing her to whip her head around to acknowledge Tomura's return. But when she turned back to Koneko, the girl was already gone.

Ignoring Tomura in favor of releasing her newly built up frustration, she snapped back to Sally. "What is your quirk anyway?"

The girl gave an impressively narcissistic grin, "I can see for up to ten blocks, around buildings but not through them."

"Can you see that no one cares about your bullshit."

* * *

Nagisa sat in the now empty bar room, her previously missing friend drinking quietly beside her as she flipped through some of Tomura's files. Her thoughts, however, were running rampant with worry. Koneko had confined in her why Hands really wasn't letting them go on the assignment, and the phrase 'I don't know if Dabi can do this without casualty' never left her head very long.

Unused to this kind of worry, she tried to process her thoughts in an organized manner, starting with why she was actually worried about Dabi and Dabi alone. She still believed her statement to him, that losing your virginity doesn't have to be special, but she happily admitted to herself that she was satisfied with it turning out like that anyway.

Now, however, she was worried that the stereotype of girls getting 'attached' after their first time might be a fact. Only one way to find out, she supposed…

* * *

"What was your first time like?"

Koneko turned to look at the otherwise quiet girl beside her in question, "My first time… of what?"

Nagisa didn't look back at her, shrugging nonchalantly, "You know, your first time… With Tomura."

Koneko tilted her head to the side, many firsts running through her mind. The first time she ever saw him, the first time he spoke to her, the first time she spoke to him, the first time he engaged her in training. Noticing Nagisa continuously avoid her eyes, she smiled softly, "Oh. You mean my first time having sex."

A soft 'yea' had her spinning around in the stool and leaning back on the bar counter, staring at the window. "Wet."

A startled look greeted her when she glanced back at her best friend, "T-M-I, Koneko!"

The soft smile never left her face, but she tilted her head again with an eyebrow raised as if to say, 'You asked.'

"No, I didn't mean like that." She took a deep breath as she gazed back out the window. "It was raining."

_She had been fascinated with everything since being brought to the bar house. And he had found her one night, stirred from sleep by the sound of rain patting against the window. She was staring out at the dark sky where clouds had covered the stars she remembered from her childhood. But the water that poured from the sky and made a symphony of sounds across the city filled her with no memories, only a brand-new exhilaration and curiosity. _

_She sensed him when he entered the room, but her eyes were locked on to the glints of water that fell in the streetlights. When a warm presence slid up just slightly behind her and to the side, the orchestra of liquid volley was accompanied by a surprisingly level voice._

"_Have you ever felt the rain?"_

_She shook her head in response to him just before three rough finger pads slid around her wrist and led her to the door. She followed his lead down the stairs and watched him unlock the front door, the sound of the rain escalating tremendously as it opened and he stepped out, his gentle grip on her wrist pulling her with him. _

_She knew her face must have changed into a million different expressions as goosebumps moved up her arms and the back of her neck. The rain had pelted her almost painfully, but the sensation lacked any real hurt. It was a strange mix of elation and discomfort as the small droplets bombarded her face, heavying her hair and soaking into her clothing. She glanced up at the sky, her eyes filling and blurring with the misty water that showered her. Sounds of water rushing down storm drains; metallic sounds of gutters flushing with liquid marbles; different surface materials beating like drums underneath the torrent; all of it washed away when a new grip on her face pulled her back down to blink through the rain in her eyes at the man in front of her. _

_She desperately tried to combine all her feelings and the sensations that bared on her into one solid word. "I'm… cold."_

_A small smile formed through the blur, his body moving towards her and heat closed in with it. "Then I'll warm you." He whispered, just before chapped but wet lips pressed into hers. The feeling spread from her lips to her whole body and lasted long after he pulled away and looked at her. When she stared back at him, her lips parted just barely as her eyes dropped to his own. A small pink tongue darted out to taste her on him before he leaned down and pressed into her again; that same tongue urging her mouth to open with his. Later, she would equate her equally physical and lush response as something she could only explain as instinct. _

"That's it... ? That's how you remember your first time? Just 'wet'?" Nagisa looked at her incredulously.

Koneko just blinked at her best friend's sudden irritation with her, "I don't actually remember the first time. Or the second. Or the third."

"At all?"

"He was… gentle. Cautious, and so was I. I had no idea what was happening, it was all so new. And he was so afraid to scare or hurt me. I assume my mind just blocked it out like its done so many times before. I just… let it happen. I didn't think about it."

"Don't say it like that. Don't say you are 'just letting it happen' like some submissive bitch." Nagisa hissed. "The way he looks at you, the way he treats you. He feels things for you that he probably doesn't even understand himself and you. You show him no affection at all. Blind obedience and loyalty. But not affection." The scoff was hidden behind the accusation in Nagisa's voice, and Koneko grew quiet as she processed her words.

After several minutes of silence, she spoke again. "I'm not sure I know how. To show him affection." She clarified quickly.

"What you're doing isn't affection, Koneko. Not for him." She looked up at Nagisa's accusation and narrowed her eyes. A remark about not being his property dissipating before it fell from her tongue.

After another minute of silence, she continued on. "I remember the fourth time."

The offended look in Nagisa's eyes disappeared as she waited for her friend to continue.

"He came back in a terribly bad mood. And he stayed in that bad mood all day." The smile came back to her face at the memory and Nagisa tried to think hard about what day that was. It wasn't often Tomura wasn't in a bad mood, especially back then.

"I was sitting on his desk, and he just pauses whatever he was doing – I don't even remember – and looks at me like he's never looked at me before." Koneko turned towards her; her grin wider.

"He grabbed my chin and forced me to look him in the eye as he _fucked_ me." She emphasized the word, stressing just how feral and animalistic his actions had been. "And for the first time he didn't worry about scaring or hurting me. He wasn't afraid he might break me. For the first time, I wasn't some glass doll that needed gentle and hesitant touches. And I loved it."

* * *

Settled back into her thoughts as Koneko's words cut off and the girl went back to the files in front of her, Nagisa stood and walked over to the window to look at the street corner below. Her best friend's words made more sense than they should have, and a smile came to her face when she realized what that meant.

It wasn't the sex that made her attached, it was him. Just him.

A smirk came to her face with the thought, _but I'll be damned if I let him know that anytime soon._

* * *

She droned as Tomura's grip on her shoulder pulled her face back from where it rested on the edge of the coffee mug. "So many files…"

He chuckled in response, lifting his sleeve to wipe the foam that stayed on the tip of her nose, "I didn't tell you to read them all."

She cracked her hips in response as she readjusted in her seat, inattentively flipping through the stack she hadn't started on yet. "I need to know this, though." She drifted her eyes up as he laughed and pressed his lips to the side of her neck, "No, you really don't. You can sit here all day and play cards and I'd be just as fine with that."

Ignoring him, her eyes flicked back to the files her thumb kept shuffling the spines of. Catching a familiar small photo paperclipped to a particularly thin file, she stiffened momentarily before forcing herself to relax.

Schooling her features into something soft and curious, she pulled out the file and flipped it open. "Tomura, who is this?"

He looked back down over her as he rested his forearms on her shoulders and his chin on her head, "Ah, Overhaul. A Yakuza member with an _extremely_ dangerous quirk. From the information we've gathered, he isn't fond of people with quirks. We don't honestly have much on him."

She nodded underneath his chin as her eyes scanned over his name and the description of his known quirk before drifting back to the familiar eyes and small mop of brown hair that rested above a steampunk style plague mask.

* * *

The hot burn of the pizza roll popped into her mouth smoothed out under the refrigerated ranch dressing she had dipped it in. Koneko gave a comment through her own mouthful of food when the sound of a warpgate filled the bar room and drew their attention. They watched Dabi step out beside Twice and Compress, a few others falling in behind them. She swallowed hard, her cold relief at their survival was burned away by their success as her gaze immediately fell to the unconscious blonde boy they were holding.

And she felt herself seething. "What the fuck are you doing!?"

Koneko narrowed her eyes at the group from beside her and gave a comment that sounded more like a barely contained growl, "I'm getting Tomura."

The silent flicker moved her eyes from the now empty chair beside her and back towards Dabi. Otherwise unprompted, she pushed herself up and towards the man. Her hand twitched, but she barely refrained from slapping him across the face. And by the look in his eye, he knew her hand's intention.

"Have you lost your mind?"

He blinked at her stupidly, "I'm sorry….?"

"Why is he here?! You brought him here?!" She had to spin around and grip a table to keep from physically hurting him, but ended up just flipping the table over instead.

"Weren't we supposed to? **I mean calm down you crazy bitch**." Split personality or not, Twice was about to get her foot up his ass.

Spinning back around, she grabbed Dabi by the front of his shirt and retched him down to her level, "This is our HOME. You think they won't come after him? You have led them straight here!" Any affection and attachment she was gaining for him had immediately been whipped out of her at the idea of her _home _being violated, endangered, or destroyed.

He was saved from her temporary wrath when the door opened and Tomura stepped through with Koneko behind him. He gave one look at the group in front of him and sighed loudly, "Kitten," He tilted his head back towards her and gave a short nod, "Go."

A loud crack filled the room and left all their ears ringing as Koneko disappeared again. She turned back to Dabi and shoved away from him, headed back to the table she was seated at, but her appetite was gone.

She ignored his hesitant and apologetic looks at her back as he talked with Tomura. She only looked back up when Koneko flickered in front of her and nodded to Hands. "1708 River Road."

Tomura, in turn, nodded to Kurogiri who warped again, pulling to the location Koneko had found. She watched Tomura grab Koneko's arm and lead her through the warp as Dabi and the other's followed.

With a longer than necessary sigh, she followed after before the warp closed out. When she stepped through and looked up, she found them all in the docking station outside a large warehouse. The stone and metal were covered in ivy, the small windows busted out, and overall it looked like it hasn't seen a human presence in three or more decades. Other than the question of how structurally sound it was now, it was the perfect location.

She watched Koneko shove the door open with her foot and drag an old metal chair into the center landing; Tomura leaning back on an old desk watching the group tie the blonde boy up before she and Koneko returned to his side. Still, she ignored Dabi's eyes as they waited for the kid to wake up.


	6. Chapter 6

He blinked groggily through the pounding in the back of his head. It took him a few moments to realize he wasn't in his bed, but rather seated upright in a chair. Another few moments had his eyes slamming open in alarm. Rather than wake up from a mid-classroom lecture nap, the last thing he remembered was the League of Villains attacking the training camp.

A voice greeted him just as the bright lights in his eyes began to fade. "Oi! The kids awake."

Snapping his head up at the voice that hung above like a rafter, he spotted a light haired girl with bright white eyes staring down hard at him with a sucker stick hanging from her lips. Vaguely familiar, the fog in his brain only lessened as a taller man passed in front of her, taking the stick out of her mouth and placing the candy in his own. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he made his way down the iron stairs as slowly as possible, not saying a word.

Taking the time to glance around what appeared to be an old warehouse, he noted several villains from the forest before resting on the blue haired man who stopped in front of him.

"Wannabe hero Bakugo Katsuki."

"Villain Shigaraki Tomura." He growled, stifling his curiosity about why he was here.

"Won't you join us – The League of Villains?"

Was this guy off his meds? "Go to hell!"

The guy in front of him paced, hands still shoved in his pockets, "Why? Why do they criticize heroes, hm?" He pulled a hand from his pocket and gestured around him to the others, "Their only crime was doing too little, too late. It's their job to protect people."

The man turned his back towards him and looked up at the white-eyed girl still on the second-floor catwalk as he continued speaking, his words growing significantly louder, "But anyone can screw up now and then, right!?" When the girl only responded with a disinterested look, Shigaraki turned back around to face him. "Why're people expecting them to be perfect?!"

"Heroes today sure have it rough," His voice settled back in a normal volume, "am I right, Bakugo?"

He didn't respond as many of the villains in the room started sprouting their own agendas, their own feelings on the situation before one lone voice quieted the others. "Our war is based on a few simple questions. What is a hero? What is justice? Is this what society's really suppose to be like? Once we get people thinking about this stuff, that's when we've won."

Shigaraki chuckled, "And I know you love to win. Dabi, untie him."

The tall scarred man with dark hair blanched, "Huh? He'll go wild for sure."

"We have to treat him like an equal, we are scouting him after all." Shigaraki shrugged with humor, both arms raising as his hands left his pockets, "Besides, he should be smart enough to know he can't win."

The scarred man and the clone-one started bickering about who would untie him before the man in the suit squatted before him to unlink his cuffs, and he watched closely without looking up at the voice that begun speaking again.

"You understand that we're not mere thugs working in the name of aimless evil, don't you? Everyone here has a different story to tell, but we've all suffered." Shigaraki walked back to lean on a desk, continuing, "Thanks to other people. Thanks to rules. Thanks to heroes. We were suffocated. You more than anyone else should-"

"Oh, go to hell! I'm not going to listen to you blab all day! I've always admired All Might's Triumphs!"

"Twice, stop. Leave him tied." He blinked up at the young voice that had spoken after he cut Shigaraki off. The white-eyed girl calling away the man in the middle of unlocking his cuffs. He scoffed, itching to blast his way out of here.

"Oh, you don't want to listen. A shame, really." Shigaraki gave a short whistle and beckoned someone or something forward with a gesture of his hand from the side.

When he glanced over, he saw a young girl walking towards him. Deep black, demonic like eyes and bright colorful hair threw off the blank look she wore on her face which cracked into a smile when she stopped in front of him. "Hi Kats'ki."

He just blinked at her before giving a rough grunt, "Do I know you?"

She blinked back at him, her smile morphing into a smirk, "Let's find out, shall we?" She reached forward and drew a sharp box cutter down his arm, just deep enough to leave a thin line of blood behind. Not looking away from his eyes, she brought the blade up to her lips. A tongue peaked out to lick the drop of crimson from the edge.

A second of still confusion passed until the room darkened and his mind blasted into a long past memory.

A flood of images of a small girl with dark brown hair and bright eyes giggling at him. Him grabbing her hand and dragging her down a forest path in the park when her parents weren't around to frown in disapproval. Showing off his new explosions to impress her.

The day he had fallen and scraped his arm. Holding back the tears from the burning pain, he watched the girl lean forward curiously and give a small lick to the scrape on his arm. Shocked, a blush burned down his face before he blinked and his world was lit up with butterflies and birds. He suddenly found himself at the coast, watching the water lap at the shore until it soothed over the burn on his arm. When he blinked back into reality, the girl was grinning at him.

The day a man had been screaming at them for knocking over something in a convenience store, his face tomato red and spit flying from his mouth. He could practically see the steam still bellowing from his ears. The young girl beside him scratching him and licking her fingernail as the man began to sweat and fan himself. Not moments past before the man ripped off his vest and stumbled outside, batting at the air and falling straight into traffic.

The day he chased after the car, his secret best friend's hands pressed up against the glass with a terrified and confused look on her face.

Snapping back into reality he breathed hard before looking up at the girl in front of him, "Akaguro Nagisa?"

She beamed at him, "The one and only!"

Abruptly, a snarl tore from him, his lips twisted up in anger, "You're a terrorist?!"

The frown on the girls face was immediate, "A terrorist? Is that what you call us? I'm disappointed in you Kats'ki, I thought you would know better than that. Terrorism," Her voice grew hard as her deep, dark, and unfamiliar eyes narrowed, "is what society calls something that shakes their beliefs from underneath them. Terrorism is something that society cannot handle because it forces them to acknowledge that what they know and what they believe isn't absolute, virtuous, and immaculate."

She crouched down to be eyelevel with him, twirling the box cutter in her fingers, and dropped her voice into a low hissing whisper, "_Terrorists_ are victims to a society and system that refuses to hear them out, or acknowledge them as human beings unless they do something drastic. And then, terrorists are only acknowledged as monsters, because _terrorism_ is defined by the victors."

She stood up at that, pocketing the box cutter and pressing her foot on the edge of the chair between his thighs, putting just enough pressure to lean the chair onto its back legs. "And like in all wars, there are no winners. Only survivors and casualties. And I refuse to be the only casualty." With the last word spoken, she released her foot and let the chair slam back down onto all fours.

A slow clap came from behind her as Shigaraki stepped up to him, "What a way with words, Akaguro." He blinked at the two before making his way towards the door, "Leave them room. Let the articulate muse persuade our little _boombox_."

He watched all the villains leave the large room of the warehouse slowly, glancing up to find the white-eyed girl on the catwalk already gone. Left alone with the girl in front of him, he was startled when she reached down to undo his cuffs, "Why?"

"Why what, Kats'ki?"

He rubbed his wrists as he watched her cut through the other restraints with the box cutter, "Why are you here with them? Where have you been?"

She squatted in front of him again, staring at him with those eerie black eyes, "Stay here with me and I'll tell you."

He shook his head, the images of that little girl playing with him in the back yard filling his mind, "Leave with me and tell me anyway."

She scoffed, "They'd just take me back. I'm safer here than anywhere you could ever lead me. And you could be safer here too…." He stared at her confused until she spoke again, "Or maybe the world will be safer if you stay."

"Safe from what?"

"Kats'ki… Can you keep a secret?" He could do nothing but nod slowly, dread sinking in his gut like a rock at what she was about to say. "I was taken. Tortured. Imprisoned. These 'terrorists' as you've called them were the ones who saved me, the only ones who cared."

He shook his head harshly, trying desperately to deny her words. "But the heroes-"

"Heroes? What makes someone a 'hero' Kats'ki?"

"They help people-" "Do they?" "-they save people!"

"They didn't save me…. These 'terrorists' did."

"If All Might knew where you were-!"

"All Might? If he knew? HE DID KNOW, KATSUKI! HE KNEW BECAUSE HE WAS THERE, WATCHING! He watched as they tied me down and electrocuted me! He watched as they doused me with chemicals and fucked with my mental state to try and understand my quirks! He watched every damn experiment! And do you know what he did? HE. WALKED. AWAY." Her screams dropped into a whisper, "Who's the hero here, Kats'ki? Because it isn't him."

His heart pounded hard against his ribcage; he was sure his lack of breath from a rib puncturing his lung from how hard his blood was pumping. He could feel his mouth opening, but heard nothing come out.

The door slammed open unexpectedly, a scuffling sound before Kirishima landed face-first on the floor in front of him. "Look, Nagisa. His boyfriend's here." He looked up to see the white-eyed girl from before with her arms crossed, a few other villains surrounding her and holding some of his classmates(who obviously failed at fighting back, which he would gloat on if he didn't just get the worst news of his life).

A abrupt explosion sounded outside, drawing the villains and two girls to rush out the door, leaving the UA students alone. A snapping in front of his face brought him back to reality and he growled as Deku took a step back. "Are you alright Kacchan?"

"Yeah, Bakugo, come on! We gotta get out of here!" Kirishima pulled him to his feet with an arm around his shoulder, "All Might and the other heroes just got here!"

His eyes shot wide before he shoved the two boys back and dashed out the door, uncaring if they were following. The sight that greeted him was absolute madness. Heroes were having it out with villains, a few of those weird Nomu creatures being beaten back by some heroes he wasn't sure the names of. His ears locked on to the sound of Shigaraki screaming but he couldn't make out the words.

When he found the source of the commotion, he could see Nagisa struggling against the taller scarred man holding her around the waist and lifting her off the ground to pull her away. Following her eye line, his heart plummeted. All Might was there, facing down All for One in quite a fight. Shigaraki was watching from the sidelines, the white-eyed girl doing an admittedly admirable job at warding off any heroes coming in his direction.

"Bakugo, lets go! This is getting dangerous!" He shoved Kirishima's arm off him, but didn't let go of the other boy's forearm, his hand tightening on the hardening arm in apprehension. What she said couldn't be true, it just couldn't.

As heroes and villains all began to take off, he grabbed Kirishima's shirt and dragged him back behind a pillar by the warehouse. All for One and All Might were both barely standing by this point, and he was sure his own lungs were on fire.

"Tomura. You've had ample time with your little students. Show me what they can do." His breath caught as Shigaraki nodded to the scarred man at AFO's words, and he relinquished his grip on Nagisa. Shigaraki however, reached out to grip the white-eyed girl's forearm with three fingers and yank her back to his side.

With her feet firmly back on the ground, Nagisa launched herself at All Might, skidding to a stop between him and AFO. His hands clenched the concrete in front of him as he watched her chest heave, a roguishly vindictive glint in her eyes.

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time, All Might. And look how _weak_ you are. I don't even have to tie you down." She leaned down and swiped a finger on a bit of blood he had coughed up on the ground. Bringing it up, she wrapped her lips around the digit with an almost pleased face; her eyes closed, and she very slowly released her finger with a 'pop.'

Not a second later did a scream erupt from All Might's mouth, his hands releasing his side to grip his head and tear at his hair. Her arms pulled to her sides and lifted only slightly, her hands straightening, and her fingers slowly clenching in.

"No… NO!" He moved to leap over the concrete he was behind, only for Todoroki and Deku to grab him and throw him back down. Kirishima keeping a grip on his shoulders to hold him down. "No, Bakugo! You'll be killed!"

"She's going to kill him!"

"Tell me how it feels, All Might. Tell me how it feels!" Her eyes hardened and she clinched her hands all the way in. All Might's skin turning a bright red, sweat pooling down his face, the boys could only blink in horror as he burned from the inside out at a rapid rate. His screams never died down as blood pooled from his eyes, the skin around his mouth developing rapid burns.

Abruptly, it all stopped. It just… got quiet. He slumped to the ground and a second later the warpgate wrapped around all the remaining villains and pulled them away. All, except the white-eyed girl, who suddenly flickered in front of the dead body. Blinking down at it, she kicked him over and pressed a foot into his neck. "One down…" She looked up at the news chopper light that shone down and gave a feral grin, "A society to go." She shoved her foot down and out, ripping the skin of the body's neck open to flood the camera's stream with a bloodbath before flickering away.

Aware of his and his companions' panting in the sudden silence, they all slumped back on the concrete underneath them as they fought to tear their eyes away from the body in front of them. The body of the man they all looked up to growing up. He could hear sobs, but wasn't sure if they were from Deku… or himself.

* * *

_Back at the bar house…_

Koneko sat at the bar with her hands buried in her hair, gripping at her head as Nagisa chugged down an entire bottle of something strong behind the bar. Choked sobs and deliriously depressing laughter coming from the quickly inebriating girl with every gasping breath she took away from the bottle.

The room flooded with villains looking to come down off the battle high. A high-pitched giggle came from the doorway, drawing everyone's attention. "That was amazing! So fun! We should do it again!"

Koneko slowly turned her head to look coldly at Toga. "Nagisa."

"Koneko." The sobbing, giggling girl responded surprisingly evenly.

"Kill her." The stoic words accompanied the white-eyed girl turning back to the bar counter in front of her, her hands still buried in her hair.

"Gladly!" The sobbing laughter cut off long enough for Nagisa to launch herself over the counter and take a stab at Toga with the box cutter from her pocket. Before a second stab could penetrate her skin, Dabi snatched Nagisa around the waist and pulled her back as yelling filled the room.

The hysterical laughter restarted, Nagisa pulling her arm up to lick the trailing blood from her wrist before Dabi could catch her. Toga's screams filled the room immediately, the blonde girl tearing at her eyeballs as Compress and Twice tried to hold her arms away.

A futile effort, Nagisa knew.

When the two men managed to restrain the small girl from tearing past her bloody and now useless eye sockets and into her brain, Koneko gave a loud, pained groan from where she sat.

Nagisa narrowed her eyes at the bloody blonde, watching her skin turn a blistering red.

"Nagisa! Stop it! STOP IT, Nagisa!" She ignored Dabi until the bloody blonde fell to the floor, lifeless.

The shouts died out, her hysterical laughter coming to an abrupt stop when an opened hand collided with her face. "Stop it, you frenetic lunatic! You're losing it! Get a grip!" Her silence and hazed vision cleared to see Dabi seething at her. A grin came to her face despite the hit. She could see the fear in his eyes.

"ENOUGH!" Tomura grabbed Koneko's arm and yanked her up as the room calmed a few degrees. "No more of this nonsense. Get it together!" Despite his yells being aimed at her, his grip on Koneko told Nagisa just how much he blamed his young lover for her demand.

"Let go of me." She heard Koneko hiss softly.

Tomura tightened his grip, "No."

"Let me go, Tomura. Let me go. LET ME GO!" She attempted to rip the man's arm off of her. "You knew! You took it from me! You knew I wanted him to suffer. I wanted to watch him suffer the way we suffered! Let go of me!"

Twice's voice of reason seemed to shake all of them in the otherwise silent scene, "Shigaraki… just.. let her go."

The moment Tomura's hand left her, she flickered out of the room with a resounding crack. When the room stopped ringing, Nagisa ripped out of Dabi's grip and rubbed the blood from her ears. With a cackle, she headed back to the bar for another bottle, stepping on Toga's body along the way.

* * *

The week that followed had calmed everyone considerably. Society had taken a hard shake and Tomura was basking in it. The league spent a large amount of time at the bar house planning their next move as they watched society closely. A slow spiral was expected but so far nothing major had happened.

A small few beeps interrupted the conversations, Koneko pulling out a small burner phone from her pocket in response. She barely noticed Chisaki slipping it to her when she was stepping out of his car the past week. There was only one unnamed number for another burner saved on the device already, and other than a thorough onceover to check for any bugs, she had ignored the burner cell completely. Flipping open the phone, a blue screen lit up white with a single message from the saved number. Just a time and location: a corner store lot a few blocks away.

"What- is that a cell phone? Where did you get a cell phone?" Koneko looked up at Nagisa's question, the curiosity alive in her eyes though Koneko made no move to answer her as she repocketed the device quickly. "I should get a cell phone!"

She snorted at Nagisa's enthusiastic idea, "and what use do you have for a cell phone?"

"What use do you?" The two girls paled lightly as they spun in the stools to face Tomura's calculating gaze.

Upon her turning towards him, Tomura's eyes immediately dropped into her lap and she grew uneasy when he didn't look up after a few silent minutes; his expression stony but empty. When she glanced down, she could see the fingerprint bruises that covered her thighs and inwardly groaned.

When she looked back up, she found Tomura's eyes already locked on hers, an unreadable expression on his face. Whatever it was he thought she had done; he was going to make her regret it. Belatedly, she realized Nagisa's fingers had tightened around her own.

* * *

Koneko grimaced as she adjusted the short skirt into a more comfortable position. "Stop it, you look fine. Lets just do this. We'll be in and out in no time. I won't tell Tomura, I promise."

Her friend just groaned and slipped inside the store a second before she kicked a small rock into the door frame, calling for the only associate in the shop. The rock would keep the door open just enough that it wouldn't chime when Nagisa came in.

Nagisa grinned as she slipped behind a wall and watched her friend flirt with the associate, giggling at the terrible brown wig she wore. _Well, it's her own fault. If she didn't flaunt her looks when she split open All Might's throat on national tv, she wouldn't have to wear one._

Waiting until Koneko had grabbed the associate by the tie and led them by the tongue into the back room, she slipped in and made her way quickly to the front desk. A few minutes was all she needed, pulling a phone from behind the desk and taking a few tries to log into the computer. Quick typing had her logging the phone online and prepaying 'cash' for the next few months. She held her hand against the cash drawer to keep the noise to a minimum when it pushed open and slipped a handful of dollars out. Shoving the now active phone into her pocket, she slid back to the front door and kicked the rock away. A shove on the door had the chime going off and a small shuffle was heard from the back as the associate reemerged, straightening their shirt.

"Welcome, ma'am, can I help you?"

Koneko gave a sly, quiet grin to her as she slipped out of the shop.

"Oh, I'm just here for a pair of headphones! Can you show them to me?" She bit back her smirk as the associate bit down their blush and gestured to a wall.

* * *

She watched white gloved fingers trace patterns up her thighs and over her abdomen, little swirls and crossing lines. The soft cushions of the couch laid underneath her with her upper back pressed up against the armrest. A larger form laid on his stomach between her legs, making soft conversation of his feelings on the world and self-mumblings that weren't truly meant for her. She had never been one for post coitus interaction, but she was using the opportunity to soak up information about him that wasn't in the file. This was probably the type of affections Nagisa was speaking of. Odd, she didn't feel anything.

Realizing she had tuned out his more insignificant soft ramblings, she was pulled back when he reached up and brushed two fingers against her cheek bone. When he pulled the white glove back between them, a bit of pink and gold glitter resided on his fingertips. Makeup that had obviously fallen to her cheek during their last romp. She blinked at it and looked up at his smirking face with a raised eyebrow.

"Fairy dust." He grinned before blowing at the glitter, sending the light-reflecting microscopic fragments into her vision as they floated in the air in front of her face. She simply frowned at him as her eyes followed the glimmering before it disappeared.

"What? You don't believe in fairies?" His grin didn't disappear as he lowered his lips back to her navel and kissed just below the piece of jewelry that rested in her flesh.

She cocked up another eyebrow and ran a gloved hand through his short but shaggy brown hair, gripping it gently and tugging to bring his eyes back to hers, "You do?"

The smirk fell only slightly, but the humor was gone from his eyes, "In this cesspool of people with disgusting, useless, and dangerous quirks, anything is possible."

She considered those words briefly, but immediately dismissed the thought that something like fairies could exist. She didn't need anymore questions or nonsense filling her brain. Like he said, there was enough mystery in the world already.

Her hand was suddenly gripped gently in his, his white fabric covered fingers running over the red that covered her palms, "Do you?"

Confused at where the conversation had gone, she blinked stupidly at him, "Do I what?"

Smirk back in place, his eyes watched her like a stone statue ready to come to life off pure vengeance to kill the birds that crapped on it. "Have a disgusting, useless, dangerous quirk?"

The smile that crossed her lips was forced, but the small shake of her head was instinctual due to what she knew about him and his ideals. "No." She whispered.

With a satisfied look, he slowly held her forearm in his hand as his other came up to gently slide off her glove. Tossing it to the floor beside them, he brought her hand up to kiss all of her fingertips individually. She impulsively flexed her fingers against his cheek as he rolled her hand over to kiss the palm. Stretching her arm an inch farther, she cupped the side of his face as he gazed at her in such a weird way. She didn't think anyone had every looked at her like that, especially considering how many people avoided eye contact with her. She was curious to know what he was thinking, but a little scared to be the recipient of that information. And she found herself suddenly with the urge to dress and leave.

He pulled her hand from his face and pressed another kiss to her palm. Glancing over his shoulder at the clock on the wall to check how long she had been gone, she suddenly got another idea. He felt so free indulging her with information about the yakuza, maybe he would be willing to take her to meet with them. She was a sucker for information, and anything she could use to further the LoV she would take.

As if aware of her thoughts, he abruptly pulled himself up off the couch and left the room. Coming back only a moment later, he slipped on a newly retrieved pair of pants. As he stood and slipped on his shirt, she noticed his eyes took on a dull glassy look. Shocked as she realized what just happened, _what_ _she just did,_ – and only with his contact on her wrist no less – she threw her legs over the side of the couch and watched him with anxiety, frozen. Her heart beat thunderously in her chest, and with the sudden panic she didn't know how long she could hold on to his will before he realized what he was doing. She desperately pleaded with the universe to stop him before he did anything dramatic.

Just as he picked up his car keys, his eyes lost their dull luster and he paused. A contemplative look crossed his face momentarily before he slowly turned his head to look at her. Panic clawed its way up her throat until she couldn't breathe. When his eyes made contact with hers, her fight or flight response took over her body and she launched herself off the couch and took off running down the hall. Very aware that he was right on her heels, she crashed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her. Locking it before she knew what she was doing, she immediately went to flicker outside the house.

She breathed out hard and blinked, flickering again. And again. And again.

And she continued to find herself inside the bathroom as a pounding on the door drowned out his yelling voice on the other side of it. Realizing her panic was causing her quirk to fail, she slid down the door and fought for breath. The banging had rattled the door against her back and she threw her eyes around violently for some type of defense. Catching the sight of the small window above the tub, she blinked at the pigeon that perched on the window ledge. A flush of cold spread over her, and spotting a pile of her clothes he had stripped from her beside the still-wet shower, she scrambled for it and pulled the burner phone he had given her from the pockets.

Hitting the contacts button that brought up two saved numbers, she paused. Holding her finger over the call button, she stared at the highlighted name on the screen '_Pigeon' _as the banging on the door slowed to a stop.

At the soft voice that broke the silence, she clicked the phone shut and tossed it back into the pile of clothes from her place on the floor.

* * *

The rage that rushed through him at realizing she indeed had a quirk and had used it against him overshadowed the fact that he had always suspected for her to have one by the gloves and exactly what her quirk was.

Growing tired of slamming the side of his fist against the locked door as he called for her to open it repetitively, he slipped off his glove and went to decimate the door entirely when a sudden calm washed over him. He could hear her erratic breathing as she sat against the other side of the door on the floor, and he thought over what she had done.

She had made him do something he never had any intention of doing. Ever. She had completely changed and controlled his actions and his wants.

He needed that.

He could use that.

He could use her.

"Baby." He spoke, softly, "Open the door. I'm not going to hurt you. Please, open the door."

The only sound still her erratic breathing, he tried again. "Is that your quirk… mind control?" His only response was the sound of her breathing slowing, and then the tap of her finger against the tile floor. He wasn't sure if the tap meant a yes or a no, but he simply understood it was her way of answering him in her panic.

"That's okay. I'm not mad. You didn't mean to do it, I know you didn't, baby. Open the door." At her silence, he resigned to speaking through the object in his way, "Can you control it?"

Another single tap.

"Good. That's good. I'm not mad. I like that. Its…. Useful. You're useful. I'm not going to hurt you; you'll be a tool for me. Understand, baby?" There was a long pull of silence and he debated over his next words when another slow but deliberate single tap happened. A grin pulled across his face and he waited to hear the lock click. But it never did.

"I know you're scared. You can't speak. Can you move, baby? Can you get up and unlock the door for me?" He clinched his teeth, breathing steady in an effort to keep himself calm and waited for a response. After a moment two small clicks sounded of her fingernail against the tile.

Shutting his eyes to repress a groan at the inconvenience, he pocketed his glove. Pressing a finger to the door and preparing to disintegrate it entirely, he stopped. The high stress level had made him foolish.

He simply decided to distort the matter around the lock, and when he pulled his hand back, he grabbed the doorknob with a gentle twist and tug. Slowly and silently, the door glided open before him.

Blinking down at her, both of his eyebrows raised at the slight gray-green, nearly invisible irises that encompassed white pupils.


	7. Chapter 7

This is going to be a very short chapter, as I'm trying to get back into the writing mood. I gave myself a small challenge to write a chapter without using a single characters name, and this was all I could come up with. Hopefully I'll get chapter eight posted by the end of next week with regular length and writing style.

* * *

She shoved her hands in her pockets as she walked down the sidewalk, the city getting colder as winter approached with a vengeance. There wasn't a clear idea of where to go, just to go and leave the bar house for a while. A particular asshole wasn't quite over the bloodshed a few weeks back, but the bruising evidence on her face had long since healed over. He was out doing gods know what for the league and extended it as much as he could throughout the day and night to stay away from her.

He wasn't the only one who was avoiding the bar house, but at least the other person was talking to her, even suggested she go out and start a fire today. Odd suggestion, but she wasn't going to turn down a chance at fun. Just…. What to set on fire? She considered a hospital at first, but second guessed that when she passed the street and saw it filled. They always said cold weather causes people to act stupid – drive stupid, in this case. Too many witnesses, then. Oh well, she kept walking.

A glowing red sign caught her attention with pictures of puppies in the window. Mentally putting her pyromania on hold, she pulled the door open and stepped into the warm store with a jingle of bells above her head. Eyes drew to the far wall, glass separating cage after cage of 'high-end' puppies with price tags far into four figures. Slowly, she walked up and down the aisle, fingers grazing over the thin glass. A few dogs lifted themselves to lick at the other side of her fingerprints, others just lying away with down-turned heads and watchful eyes.

This must be what heartbreak actually feels like, she thinks. Her throat felt hot and tight the longer she stared back at them, the heat rising to her head as her eyes stared down at the wire flooring under their paws. A sudden pull at the middle of her back brought her a few steps backwards like a hand grabbed at her jacket, then she was out the door and halfway down the street before she stopped.

She almost forgot.

* * *

He grinned with parting words to the last man shaking his hand; their business deal well handled and finally finished, in his favor. Last in line, the suited man moved to his left and raised the hand of the girl in front of him. Hardened eyes, the grin slipped away as the man's lips pressed into the pale skin on the back of her hand, gentle and far too lingering. She immediately stepped a hairs breath closer into his side, her tempting smile not leaving her for a few more moments.

When it finally slipped off, he glanced back up to the four men in front of them. Their eyes were blank and their jaws slack, though he thought it quite appropriate their dirty lips weren't parted. He slipped the hand sanitizer from his pocket and began to scrub his hands before passing the small bottle to the girl beside him. The pair turned to leave as the sound of steel cans sloshing liquid onto the walls and ground floor chorused around the long-standing building.

Once outside, a cardboard packet brushed against his fingertips, deep within his right pocket. A glance back through the old glass windows confirmed the men dousing the inside structure, the odor of gasoline filling his nose. The metal door slammed closed, drawing his attention to the small girl who retrieved the offered matchbook.

With his slow approach to the car, the girl slipped open the matchbook, ripping out a short stick and striking it quickly on the paper. She stared after for a moment, watching the sparks burst into a large purple-hued flame before dying down to a flashing yellow. As it slowly began to move its way down the stick, she glanced back up at the building and flicked her wrist in a similar manner as striking the match. His pupils followed its short fly to the open window on the right of the door, the reflection of the resulting engulfing flames filling his already amber eyes as the girl turned back to him and the car.

He stepped in, shutting the door behind him, the passenger door closed behind her. Key in the ignition, her previously kissed hand reached out to stop him. Glancing up, his unasked question was ignored as she crawled into his lap and slipped her hands up his chest.

He grinned as she ground her hips into his, a satisfied growl pulling from him as she kissed at his pulse. Crackles filled the air outside the car as the building roof caught aflame. "Someone's in a good mood."

Her lips left his neck for a second to respond, arching into him as his hands stroked up her thighs underneath the dress, "I like being useful."

"Good to know, kitten." He pulled his hands back to unbutton his pants with one, the other dragging up into her hair and crashing her lips down onto his.

* * *

The sink in the back of the business exploded like she was born to do it – maybe she was. It was only a matter of seconds before the store employees came rushing back to see what happened. Their distraction in trying to stop the onslaught of spraying water made it easy to slip behind them. A piece of broken pipe slipped down their arms and dripped blood onto her fingertips. Tossing the pipe aside as they spun around, she gave a teasing smile and licked the metallic fluid from her middle finger.

Tortured sobs were drowned out by the continuous spray of water until she shut off the valve with her foot and headed into the main store front. A glance around proved it empty before the blinds shut and the open sign flipped over in her palm.

A sigh left her as she debated the best way to go about this. It would take longer than she originally imagined. Though, it wasn't like she considered this long. Maybe a getaway car would have been a good idea.

_Ever the impulsive one_, she thought, _time to strap up._

She snatched up a handful of small harnesses, leashes following, and finished up with a few shoulder strap carriers and two backpack carriers. Starting with the smaller puppies, she unlatched cages one by one and began to load them into the carriers. Two smaller long-haired dogs slipped easily into the backpacks before she strapped one to her chest and the other to her back. The rest of the puppies struggled into the harnesses with the energy of a toddler.

Leashes in hand, she pulled the strap carriers around her shoulders and headed for the back door. The fire could wait, she needed a stash house first… then she'd come back for dog food and flaming fun.

* * *

He watched his breath leave him in a cloud as he waited on his new acquaintance to show. He had spent the past seven hours riding trains back and forth just to stay gone, but luckily for him the rest of his day actually had plans.

"Yo, scarface!" He grunted in unamused acknowledgement, turning towards the blonde man who was jogging up to meet him. "What's the plan for today?"

He reached out to wrap his arm around the man's shoulder, hunching down to put their heads together, "Today, mass chaos. Tomorrow, murder."

The blonde scratched the back of his head and adjusted the fur lined tan jacket around his shoulders, "Yeah, but when am I gonna get to join the gang?" A large hand ruffled his blonde hair roughly before shoving him a foot or so away, "Prove yourself now, join later."

"So.. today?"

He grinned at the blonde, nearby neon signs making his electric blue eyes glow, "Lets light some fires."

The shorter man groaned, tossing his hands into the air with exasperation expected from a teenager, "But that's your thing! How come we never do anything fun for me?!"

"That's because you don't have a thing. Shooting feathers? I didn't sign up for archery, now lets go."

* * *

She scrubbed her hands down the sides of her jeans, brushing off dog fur from her shirt as she moved away from the siren filled streets. Once again she was left without a destination in mind, but a certain Pomeranian puppy had given her a whole new objective to consider.

Twenty minutes later she found herself standing on the other side of the gates of UA, the dorm buildings in front of her. Her dark eyes traced the lit windows until they landed on a far one that was dimmed considerably. With the falling sun, she was sure the light would be out soon and the occupant fast asleep. Light steps led her around the building until vines pulled up the far end brick with unlit windows lacing between empty spaces.

"Too easy. What is this? Home invader boot camp?" A short shake of her head accompanied her hand gripping a tall brick and a push of her foot starting her climb to the dimmed window.

A chill and a few foot slips later, she shoved the unlocked window open with one hand and was yanked inside by her other. "Who the fuck ar- .. Oh you have got to be kidding me. You, again?!"

She smiled up at the irate blonde boy in front of her, "Hi, how you doin'?" She could see the sparks flash in his palms as his look of pure hatred locked her in place. "You're not still mad about the whole killing your idol thing, are you?"

"Give me one good reason not to blow your ass to Tokyo Tower!"

"Because you've missed me. Because you're confused. Because you want more answers than you want to just shut it out." She didn't have to look at him to know she was right as she pushed herself off the floor and sat gracefully on the end of his bed. "So ask anything, and I'll tell you."

* * *

A soft groan escaped him as he scratched at the side of his neck. A glance around the empty room making him scratch a little harder as he sat up on the left side of the bed, leaned back on the headboard. Regardless of being aware she was spending most nights in the bar house, nights left him feeling more alone than he had been in years. She had effectively moved back out of his room and to her own, despite the fact he knew she still wasn't comfortable with so many new people living in the house.

This theory confirmed when he had stopped by the empty room one day and saw the bed unslept in. Shoved between the bed and wall, she had moved the dresser and bedside table, creating a nook in the back corner of the room where she was most likely spending her time, sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up to rest her chin on.

Despite the quiet and dusty room being empty when he had stopped by, he could practically see her ghost still sitting there, white eyes staring out at nothing in a way that comforted only her.

Another small noise escaped him as he glanced around his own room once more. He was furious, he couldn't lie. The feelings that came over him when he had seen the bruises on her had jumbled together so messily that for a moment, he thought someone had hurt her. Those feelings raging into a new, but still confusing, shape that left his face as blank as his mind when it occurred to him what had been going on.

But he only found his ire directed at himself. He wasn't mad she had been going out. He wasn't mad someone else was touching her. He wasn't mad she was exploring freedom or the world that she had been so unjustly kept from. He didn't own her, and he couldn't be mad _at her._

He was mad that she wanted to be somewhere else. He was mad that she wanted someone else to touch her. He was mad that she didn't feel freedom being here, with him. And he was mad _at himself_ for making her feel that way. Furious that he had driven her away with his coddling. Regretful that he kept her away with his cold shoulder, because he was unable to decipher his emotions or what to do about the situation.

* * *

Keys jingled, breaking her interest from the chips in front of her to the staircase door. A huff escaped her lips as a mop of black hair came up the staircase and she almost wished the top door was closed to separate them for a few more seconds. "Where have you been?"

"I could ask you the same." His voice was more gruff than usual, but she suspected being in the cold that long could do that to you.

She shook her head with a small chuckle, tapping her fingertips on the counter silently, "No, you couldn't. You're not home enough to know if I'm gone or not."

He stopped walking at her words and glanced at her from the middle of the room. After a few minutes of silence, she whirled around in the stool to stare at him, her back leaned on the bar counter.

"I've been doing recruiting for –"

"Yeah, I already know. But recruiting doesn't take sixteen hours a day, even I know that." She waited for his response, but continued when he didn't give one, "You're afraid of me."

That brought a scoff out of him, his hands shoving into his pockets and turning to face her. Instead of verbalizing a retort, he rolled his eyes and stepped towards her in a few long but slow strides.

"Maybe not of what I can do, but what I'm willing to do. You think I'm-"

"Crazy?" He finished, "No, I don't." He trapped her against the counter with his arms, leaning down to brush his lips against the top of her head, "You're way beyond crazy. I might not be all there, but at least I can keep a hold on myself."

As the word 'hold' left his mouth, his hand slowly raised to wrap around the underside of her chin and lift her head all the way back to look him in the eye, "Get your shit together, dove." He immediately released her and walked across the room to the far door leading to the bedrooms.

Her narrowed eyes followed him until he stopped, peeking back with a raised eyebrow, "You comin' to bed or not?" He waited a few moments for her to push herself off the stool and follow to his side before pushing the door open.

* * *

The file she was writing in was immediately shoved to the side under other papers when she heard the door open behind her. She pulled out a random file and flipped through it distractedly as she waited to feel him sweep up behind her.

A partially gloved hand gripped her shoulder, a thumb painfully pressing into a muscle between her spine and shoulder blade. She breathed out hard and leaned into the warm press of lips against her cheek. Her fallen lids snapping back open at his next words. "When I find out who he is," He hissed, "he will never be able to touch you again. I'll make sure of it."

As he turned and walked away, she spun around in the chair to face his back. "What is this? Am I just some power play to you?"

His silence unbroken, she egged on, "I don't understand you. Half the time you're urging training until I'm bleeding on the floor and then you turn around and tell me you're fine if I do nothing but play cards ever again."

A dry sob was choked back behind her next words, "So, what is it? Am I only here because you like that you'll _always_ be able to play me however you wish?"

"You're nobody's chess piece." He spoke it barely above a whisper, but it still filled the room as he left.


	8. Chapter 8

Big thank you to "Dictionary Word of the Day" and "Crazy writing prompts" for this bs chapter.

* * *

The girl blinked blankly at the clock in front of her. She didn't want to be there. She had not wanted to spend the night. The night before had her being used to warp the minds of low-class heroes and civilians alike. The Yakuza more willing to bend to Chisaki's will now that she manipulated them to do so several times over.

Regardless of her actions – which she hadn't felt anything negative about – she had NOT wanted to stay. But his insistence was something she had been unable to fight against this time, and now she continuously kept glancing at the clock as a sizzle came from the other side of the kitchen.

"How do you like your eggs, baby?" The man asked, finding himself cooking breakfast at the moderately early hour of six in the morning. Despite her staying, the girl had not slept at all, and he felt the need to pack her full of protein to make up for that. Besides, he wasn't trustful of takeout and cooked the majority of his meals himself anyway.

"Dead."

He paused at the immediate, and very honest, response as he glanced over his shoulder at her. She turned to blink at him, her face blank of any humor he might have expected. Huffing with his own amusement, he turned back around to the stove in front of him. "At least you didn't say fertilized."

The silence that greeted him had him glancing back at her, finding her blank face ever so slowly shift into one of confusion before she looked back at him with her brow scrunched, "What?"

"You know… fertilized." He offered weakly, an almost embarrassment coming over him for the lame joke that she didn't seem to get, or maybe just didn't seem to find funny. It wasn't like he was a deipnosophist.

"Like a crop?"

He shut the stove off quickly and turned to look at her, repeating her earlier intelligent sentiment, "What?"

She stared at him, the look of confusion still on her face, "Do people eat eggs fertilized?"

He would have barked out a laugh if it wasn't for the serious look on her face. Concerned, he thought over what he knew about her. She was skilled, but did she suffer from mental retardation? He didn't believe so. She didn't speak often, but when she did it was with education and confidence. Now that he thought about it, there were certain common-sense things that she just didn't get. Certain comments he made that would make her stare at him blankly or with confusion.

Ignoring her question in decision to test a theory instead, he walked to his room to shuffle through a bookshelf. Finding the medical text he was searching for, he brought it back into the kitchen and sat across from her at the table. A few minutes of shuffling had him coming to the diagram on his mind.

"Do you know what this is?" He laid the book down, spun it around to face her, and softly slid it across the tabletop. Her deduction was immediate, "Part of the human body."

"What human body?"

She looked up at him but didn't respond, which was answer enough for him. "Where did you come from?" The question was rhetorical, and she seemed to know that because she just looked back down at the book in front of her, a curious and critical look in her mostly blank eyes.

With a soft sigh, he stood and came around the table to look over her shoulder. This was not something he wanted to talk about, nor was it something he wanted to teach to a girl he had _sex_ with. It made him feel both like an educator – and he valued education – and a creepy bastard. He pointed down at the diagram on the page.

"That, is a uterus. Those two things-" His finger moved to follow his words, "- are ovaries. They release eggs into the uterus to be fertilized by-" His words faltered again as he glance down at her, choosing how to phrase the rest of it.

A look of understanding crossed her face, "Cum."

Clearing his throat quickly, he continued, "Yes. Fertilized by sperm in semen. In which it will eventually grow into a fetus during pregnancy. Understand?"

She just nodded, staying silent for a moment until the connection between the lesson on fertilization and chicken eggs morphed her face into confusion. Another second past before understanding crossed her face once more. The sly smile letting him know that she got the joke, punctuated by her next word. "Gross."

He chuckled lightly, trying to brush off the awkwardness as he headed back to turn on the stove and pick up a spatula, "Yes. So, let me know when your next period is so we can avoid fertilization." He would have meant it as a joke, but now that might be a pretty good idea.

Once again concerned at the silence, he glanced back at her to see her new look of slight confusion fade as another small smile came to her face. "Oh, I don't have those."

Dropping the spatula onto the counter, he turned around to lean on the marble and cross his arms over his chest, his ankles crossing as well. A look of bewilderment filled his face as he asked again, "Where did you come from?"

The monotone deadpan that came from the girl was so blatantly spoken that he absolutely believed it.

"Hell."

* * *

Katsuki watched the girl beside him warily as she skipped down the city sidewalk. For as cold as it was, her gloved hand was still wrapped around an ice cream cone. The chocolate treat melting lightly to drop colorful sprinkles onto the concrete. How she had continued to rope him into these outings he would never know.

A sound up ahead caught their attention, her tongue freezing in midair beside the scoop of ice cream. Crossing a small intersection, they came to find the commotion of a store robbery. A small time, nameless villain was trying to make out of the store with some appliance box in his arms, a haphazard roll of cash shoved in his pockets.

An older female clerk was attempting to stop him by clinging to the back of his shirt and cementing her legs to the floor. In an instant, the robber turned and touched the woman. The contact melted her into a puddle at his feet, an almost gray gel with blinking eyes. Katsuki twitched, flexing his fingers as he looked around him for a nearby hero.

"You know what your problem is Kats'ki?"

He huffed, slightly bemused, "I have some psycho villain girl who won't leave me alone?"

"That's more like a blessing than a problem. No, the problem you have is that you have all this energy inside of you just waiting to explode!" She shoved her hands together in an almost Uraraka type expression before throwing her arms wide, almost smacking him in the head with the cone in her effervescent behavior, "But when surrounded by heroes, you just can't express it properly."

His scowl dropped as he shoved her arm away, "What do you mean properly?"

With her unoccupied hand, she gestured ahead of them to the slow running villain, "Go. Be a hero. Nobody's around to tell you to tone it down."

Almost in an instant, the two were racing ahead to catch up to the man who turned a corner. Found on a more empty street, a candy scented blast knocked him to the ground. "What's your name?" Katsuki growled, hauling the guy up by his collar, "and what's that quirk?"

"J-josh! And momentary liquidation! I swear she'll be herself again in a few minutes! I swear!"

Katsuki kicked the appliance from his hands and ripped the money wad from his pocket before handing it to the girl behind him, not noticing her count it merrily. Dropping the man, he popped several small explosions in his hand as a threat, "You have five minutes to get out of this town before your brains are splattered so far over the pavement that the sanitation department has no choice but to leave it for the birds."

Nagisa stuffed the wad of cash into her pocket as she glanced up at the man now scampering down the street with a whimper, "Good. Now kill him."

Aghast, Katsuki turned to gape at her, "What?!"

He watched her shrug for a moment before focusing her eyes on him, "No one is here to see, and there's no one that's gonna care. He's trash, Katsuki… and we burn trash."

"Heroes don't kill people." He grimaced at the grin she gave before turning back towards the running spec in the distance.

"Don't they? He's a villain, Kats'ki. You want to be a hero don't you? So get rid of him." Her words ended with a satisfied grin when the boy grabbed her hand and pulled her racing down the street towards the fading spec.

* * *

He heard the door to the bar room open with an echoing quiet he knew only one person capable of. He glanced out of the corner of his eye as the light-haired girl glided across the room, picking up a clean glass on her way. She seated herself on his left, pouring a drink from the bottle of brandy sitting beside him on the bar. He couldn't even imagine what she wanted but knew it would be nothing good.

"I don't like that you're sleeping with Nagisa."

He snorted into his own glass, "Good morning to you, too." He took a long drink before glancing at her, "You think she's too young for me?"

She turned her head to meet his gaze and he instantly knew that wasn't it, "I don't know how old she is." She shook her head before taking a swallow of the deep amber liquid, "Besides, you know I'm sleeping with Tomura so its not like age matters to me."

"No," She shook her head again with another swallow, "I don't trust you."

His next snort was much louder, less amused. "That's rich coming from someone who has been disappearing to god knows where."

He watched her put her glass down at that, turning fully in the chair to face him. "I would be just fine on my own, just like almost everyone else here." She paused; he would think for dramatic effect if he had any clue what she was about to say. "But everyone here has become the family none of us ever got to have. The family I assume you never got to have." This time when she paused, he knew it was for dramatic effect to let her accusation seep in. And it did, and it _hurt_.

She didn't realize how right she was, how fucked up his biological family was. As twisted and violent as the league was, he knew they weren't all as selfish as they pretended to be. Outcasts had a way of understanding each other in a way the general public couldn't, and still retained the ability to protect themselves above all else. His own family didn't understand each other at all and try as they might to look out for number one, they all sucked at it and only ended up hurting themselves more.

"I don't care if what's between you and Nagisa is romantic or just sexual. You breaking her heart, or her breaking yours, is not on my radar. I just-"

He cut her off before she could continue with her accusation. "And you are trying to threaten me to not make another dumb mistake that jeopardizes the LoV because you see it as a sad excuse for a family?"

Her eyes narrowed and her hand shot out to smack the glass out of his hand. The appendage immediately retreated back to her side to emphasize that she wasn't a threat; he instead just watched the glass shatter on the floor. "I need to know your protection of this family is not for your own self-preservation."

When he turned his eyes back to her, he pointedly stared at her mouth instead of her eyes. "Say that again, but slowly."

She huffed, unamused with her own admission. Instead of humoring him with a rebuff, she pulled a small box out of her pocket and tossed it to him as she stood from her chair and headed back for the door.

_Condoms?_ When he glanced up from the box in his hand, she was looking back over her shoulder at him in the doorway.

"Don't make this family any bigger, Dabi."

* * *

"AUGH!" Jin cringed as a phone slammed into the wall above his head, ducking just in time to not be the unintended target, "Problem, Nagisa?"

"She always does this! Every time! Every time I want to do something, she just snatches it right out from under me! How does she know!?"

He sighed as he watched the girl now pace back and forth atop the bar counter, sliding in her turns with fuzzy blue socks. "You're talking about the ebay girl who keeps out bidding you on everything again, aren't you?"

She turned her dark eyes on him as she dropped down from the top of the bar and padded across the room to retrieve her phone, "I'm going to blow a gasket!"

He tsked, sipping his drink casually as she all but launched an empty wine glass onto the floor in her attempt to crawl back onto the counter, "Anger makes you stupid. Stupid makes you dead."

"No! Stupid makes her dead!"

* * *

She growled in frustration, flipping the pages in the medical books back in forth. Medical files and research studies spread on the floor around her. "This is impossible, Chisaki! You would have to kill literally everyone with a quirk on the planet,-"

"I'm willing."

"-then reconstruct embryos to make sure no fetus has a quirk. There's no guarantee that will even last long enough to breed out quirks all together."

"I love when you talk dirty." Confused, she glanced up at him from her weird knees and elbows position on the floor, watching him cross his ankle over his knee in the plush armchair. A file she built him on the LoV sat open in his lap. Rolling whiskey around in a glass tumbler, his smirk widened at her look, "A few weeks ago, you didn't even know what an embryo was."

She just frowned at him with a mock glare before returning to the studies in front of her.

* * *

Dabi spun back and forth in the aged but plush officer chair, staring across the rusted desk at his companion. Meeting in the abandoned office building had been a sardonic decision he made at the last minute, using the irony to mock his charge.

Said charge's feathers were quite ruffled at the moment. The blonde ran his hand through his hair for the third time that minute. "An interview, really?"

He continued to spin in the chair as he picked at his nails, wondering just how far he could take today. The kid had already passed all his tests, his only reluctance on bringing him to Tomura was his own boredom. Outside the bedroom, he wanted to keep his distance from Nagisa a little longer.

"- reason things that disgusting taste that good is because they're illegal –"

It wasn't that he didn't like her; He just didn't understand her. Or maybe she just didn't understand him? They didn't understand each other. Despite the mutual attraction, they were two very different people who held two very different belief systems. It wasn't something he could prove, it was just something he felt very deeply. He couldn't risk getting too close to her, knowing it could end in disastrous failure, maybe failure not too unfamiliar from Tomura's own romantic downfall.

Takami's next words came through his thoughts like a deafening tintinnabulation in the new year . "Are you even listening?"

"Yes, it just takes me a while to process so much stupid all at once."

The frown that answered him had him sitting up and leaning forward, elbows planted firmly on the chair's armrests. His fingers interlaced into a forward-facing basket as his hands came together in an almost regal way. "You are sentenced to death. Upon entering the execution room, instead of being executed, you are given a new passport and identity. You are informed that the death sentence has been abolished and now exists as an empty threat to deter violent crime. What do you do?"

He gave a few moments of silence to see how Takami would respond. His eyes glanced around unsure, the confusion at being asked such a question blatantly obvious. When he finally opened his mouth, Dabi spoke up again.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"I don't care. Shut up. You can talk when you're not being stupid."

He waited a few more minutes of silence before continuing, "Two lovers are reincarnated over and over for thousands of years and have always found each other but instead of being in love this time around, they just fucking hate each other. Why?"

"They don't-"

Dabi gave a dramatic sigh and leaned back in the chair again, "Wrong. You're on a mission with a group. Things go wrong and your partner throws your plan B off a bridge-"

"Was it on fire?"

He blinked up at Takami who sat watching him intently, as if waiting for the small clue to be just enough for him to answer the situationals correctly. "What?"

"Was the backup plan on fire?" Takami pressed, leaning forward to brace his palms on the edge of the old desk. His haste shoved the old furniture in a few inches, causing an almost steam to rise from Dabi's nose as he breathed out hard.

"No. You enter a graveyard begging for nightmares to end-"

"What?" Takami cocked his head to the side, but it only seemed to spur on Dabi to talk faster.

"-only to find that they increase-"

"A muse."

Dabi stuttered again, "What?"

"The nightmares are my muse. You meet an old village crazy lady who requests you walk her home, she's in her front yard, where does she want to go?"

"I-"

"Should you be playing dominos and a chess piece falls from your opponent's pocket, do you consider that a strategically offensive move or a defensive one?"

Dabi faltered, pushing himself out of the chair to regain control of the conversation. "Don't play games with me like I'm stupid. Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that."

"I wouldn't say you're stupid," Takami responded, "You are, but I wouldn't say it."

With the answering silence, Takami stood and brushed off the front of his pants. "I'm hungry, want to go get lunch?"

Dabi blinked "Don't you have to be stupid somewhere else?"

"Not until four."

* * *

He tossed his keys in the bowl by the door before slipping off his shoes. The house filled with soft but upbeat 80s music that flowed out of the kitchen. Padding quietly across the home, he slipped up behind the white eyed girl and wrapped his arms around her waist, chin leaned down to rest on her shoulder. "I see you found the radio."

"I like it." She hummed in return, curling into him as he pressed his lips into the side of her neck.

Chisaki watched her chop the peppers on the bamboo board in front of her, creeping one hand from her hip to smooth down her arm. He rested his hand over the top of hers before using his fingertips to dislodge the knife from her grip and spin her around in his arms. "And I like you." He smothered his words with the contact of her lips, pleased at the grin he felt her pull as her hands linked together behind his neck.


	9. Chapter 9

"Come," He spoke, his voice halcyon if not a little rhapsodic at what lay ahead, "I have something to show you." His attitude was well upbeat and warm after several days playing house, and she assumed his actions were nothing more than salutary today as well.

Koneko glanced up at Chisaki's hand before taking it and allowing him to raise her from the car. She wrapped her jacket further around herself as the cold air sliced around her face. She walked a step behind him as he led into what she recognized as a yakuza building. The iron door pulled open after he unlocked the gate, the sound strepitous as it grinded at her nerves.

The building was appropriately lit by florescent lights, though she deemed it to be no more than an extravagant or perhaps tinselry of a warehouse turned meeting hall. A few yakuza men nodded to him as he passed by, many faces she had remembered seeing before. From memory and context, she knew these men were more like highly obedient lackies, but was aware it all came down to fear. Chisaki was not someone to disobey.

She peered around his shoulder as he led her further inside, turning to smile at her when her curiosity beckoned to him for her attention.

"This is a trump card for what we're working towards, and you are the key to the lock it so desperately abstains." Chisaki slowed in his steps until she was beside him, his hand coming to rest at the small of her back and lead her to a particular door.

She waited patiently for him to unlock it, watching curiously as it slid to reveal a bedroom. The curiosity was short lived however as a cold shiver went up her spine. The tingling sensation burned a hole through her chest as her stomach dropped. She bit down onto her tongue until she tasted blood to keep from retching at the sight that greeted her.

"Chi' … what- what is this?" Bile rose up her throat as she swallowed hard and shook her head at the sting that shot behind her eyes. "Who is she?"

Chisaki left her side to walk into the room towards a young girl who sat on a bed. Despite the cleanliness of the room and the many unopened toys that littered a pink and yellow child's rug, despite the many dolls and stuffed toys of all sizes that sat untouched in corners, the girl seemed to shrink in on herself in a way that made Koneko's legs tremble.

"Eri is my old boss's granddaughter. She's got quite the useful quirk if I can just possess it through her blood." He gestured towards the girl who could be no older than seven, a striking white hair took on a blue translucent hue under the florescent lighting. She hugged her bandaged arms around the gray-white dress that covered her to her shins, the wrappings going all the way to her feet.

Wide empty white eyes darted slowly around the room without looking at anything before she found her feet backing out of the room, dry heaves leaving her. She was unaware Chisaki followed her out until she was pressed back into a wall, two hands holding her upright by her upper arms. "Kit? What's wrong?"

She shook her head at him as she doubled over in the space between them, heaving in coughs to keep her stomach contents down. When her breath calmed enough, he leaned her back up against the wall and waited moments before hearing her speak. "Blood?"

Chisaki shook his head in a lack of understanding, he had seen her rip All Mights throat open on live TV, so the reaction to the word blood was uncalled for. "Her acquired blood has the ability to reverse quirks before they begin, but it's only temporary."

She gazed at him incredulously, which he obviously mistook for confusion before he continued, "Your ability to manipulate your quirks into something else, something more, can be used. We can figure out how to use her blood to reverse quirks permanently."

A harsh shove had him spilling feet back from her as she pulled herself up higher on the wall, "Have you been hurting her, Chisaki!"

Eyes narrowed on her as he reclosed the distance between them to grab her face in his hands, "I have not been torturing her in an experiment, Kit. I know it works, already. You know I'd never upset you like that before showing you."

She shook her head as her cold fingers pried his wrist away from her face with all the strength she could muster, holding him at arms-length. "There are many ways to hurt people, Chi. You've been doing it, you've been hurting her. You sick son of a bitch! I'm not going to help-!"

His hands pulled away before she noticed, slamming into the wall beside her head. "Do not!" She flinched at the impact, the ringing metal sound driving into her until she curled into herself. "Do not!" Her arms coming to brace on each side of her head in a silent sob as one of his hands slammed down again. "Watch your mouth with me, baby."

A hand gripped her wrist to shake her into his chest and against him, "This is not up for debate. You will or you won't, but it will happen with or without you."

Her narrowed eyes turn into a glare to match his as she ducked underneath his arms and backed away from him quickly down the hall. Her head shook with betrayal she didn't quite understand as his body turned around to watch her. "I'm not, Chi. I'm not doing this."

His long strides caught up to her in an instant, a hand reaching out to rub a stray tear from her face. "I can't turn her into me, I won't. I'm sorr-" Her words ended with the salty soaked thumb pressing over her trembling lips.

"Don't apologize Kit, it makes you weak."

* * *

||Pressure Valve||

* * *

Nagisa's eyes rolled back slowly as a warm press of plush skin begged against her neck before the feeling froze. Peaking eyes open she sat up from the plush pillows beneath her to the glare that pierced down at her in electric blue eyes.

"What?" She grunted softly, unamused at the interruption she felt coming.

Dabi's dark eyebrows shot up in disbelief before his eyes narrowed in fury, "You smell like… burned sugar."

She shook her head at him as he shoved himself off of her, waiting for more, "So..?"

He shoved himself off the bed as well, pacing across the room before stopping at the bookshelf. He picked up a random novel from the third level and tested the weight of it in his hand before turning back at her. The fabric covered spine bounced softly over his fingertips as he adjusted his grip. "The boy from UA, the blonde one with the explosions… he smells like burned sugar when he uses his quirk." He kept his eyes down at the worn pages of the untitled book neither of them had likely even read.

"Have you been-" He bounced the blue dyed novel in his hand before looking up at her in accusatory exasperation, "have you been seeing UA students?" The disbelieving level of his voice proved that he assumed a coming villain meeting regularly with a budding hero was unheard of, ipso facto an abomination in his eyes.

The bland look she gave him in return had him throwing the book across the room, the spine breaking against the wall a few feet to the left of her head. Old pages floated gently around the air before landing on the destroyed book that had already clobbered to the floor in a disarrayed heap. She didn't flinch. "You've got to be kidding me, you dump little girl!"

"_You're sleeping with him? That's disgusting!" Katsuki made a disturbed face as she sat on his lap upon the park swing, both of them well into the air but plummeting along with his stomach. His arms dropped from the swing chains to wrap tight around her, his shoes digging into the gravel until they came to a rough stop._

_He groaned, pressing his forehead into the back of her neck, "That's nasty, Nagi." The sarcastic childhood nickname pinched playfully as he pushed his feet back against the ground to rock the swing again, "He's old! And-"_

_She giggled, "And I have to get my kicks somewhere. I _like_ him; besides, he's cute."_

_He grunted, pulling the swing chains to draw them higher into the air, "You like me too but I don't see you on your knees with your lips wrapped around my cock-"_

"_I could." Her answer caused his face to blank in shock before he shook his head at her. "You want me to take this villain thing seriously?"_

_At her suggesting nod, he hummed as his feet dragged them to another stop. "Then you take this hero thing seriously too. Stop sleeping with him. Meet other heroes-"_

_Her objection was clear before she voiced it, "Okay, not heroes. Future heroes, then. Do something good for once."_

_When she walked to another swing and sat upon it, she began to twist in thought, "Okay, but… What does sleeping with Dabi have to do with anything?"_

"_It's just gross," Katsuki jumped up from the swing and stepped behind her to push her into a rocking arc. "And it will let me know if you're as serious as you want me to be." _

_She shook her head before standing up on the rocking swing, turning around to look down at him as he continued to push and pull at the chains beside her. "Do you still see me as that little girl you grew up with?" He answered the question by wrapping his arms around her knees, locking his hands as he picked her up from the swing and ignored her indignant shriek as he spun her around until she felt as sick as he did._

"Nagisa! Nagisa! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING?" She blinked back to reality at the roar that accompanied Dabi's heated stare that was now less than a foot from her as she sat on the edge of the bed.

She shoved herself up, seeing him back away a foot or so to let her stand, "Maybe I am. A dumb little girl, that is. Sleeping with someone your age when I'm just a little girl… bit dumb, me thinks."

The look that came upon his face would have been humorous in another setting. His hands reached up to grip at his hair, "That's not! I mean- Do you have any idea how dangerous that is! Being around heroes could be the end for you and all of us."

She hummed as she made her way to the doorway, "Have you had this conversation with Koneko? Gosh only knows where she's been running off to. That could be a danger to us as well."

A hand slammed the door closed from above her the moment her fingers pried it open. "I'm not sleeping with Koneko. She's Tomura's problem." He growled into her ear, the irritation she caused him shown in the sadistic heedy hardness that pressed into her from behind. She mentally rolled her eyes, the sick bitch was just like his father. "You're mine."

The double meaning jarred her for only a second before she furthered her resolve by turning around to press her back into the door, though her head turned away from his searching lips in rejection. "You're not sleeping with me either, anymore. That's all you've been doing anyway lately. Fucking me doesn't mean you own me, you can't even have a normal conversation with me anymore." Her fingers scratched softly up his chin to grip his face, in which she shook slightly in mock warning. "I'm done, Dab'. Should you try me again, know I'm more than willing to scratch your eyes out."

The conversation ended for good as she pulled the door open behind her and turned to walk out of it.

* * *

||Pressure Valve||

* * *

Tomura blinked as he entered his bedroom, finding Koneko lying on the rug on the floor, her elbows propped up to hold her head up. She stared out of the bottom of the floor-to-ceiling window that was streaked with droplets from the rainstorm outside.

Quietly, he paced across the room to sit at his desk, but before he fully sat, the girl spoke up. "Do you remember what the rain feels like?"

He closed his eyes at the fond memory, breathing out until his heartbeat slowed. "Do you?"

She turned her head to look at him, pushing herself onto all fours and leaning back on her knees, her eyes unsteady in their unusually emotional gaze, "Remind me."

He pushed himself back up as well, gently taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. He led her from the room without glancing down at her. Her hand slacked in his gloved one when the rain started to pelt them outside, her eyes narrowed when he finally turned to look at her. "What?"

"It feels different."

He pulled her closer, "Then let me show you something familiar." She responded into his immediate kiss with zeal.

* * *

||Pressure Valve||

* * *

Jin stared down the girl who sat across from him at the table, studying the cards in her hand and seemingly unaware of his intense focus. She didn't look up at him when he placed his hand down on the table, laying the cards flat where she could see them if she bothered to glance up.

Succumbing to his own curiosity, his mind screaming at him that a train wreck was imminent if he opened his mouth, he spoke, "Koneko, if you keep going out like this, then coming back… I'm not sure what's going to happen. **You're going to tear Shigaraki into pieces and leave everyone burning in metaphorical flames that would make Dabi cry and beg for his mommy.**"

She didn't look up as she shuffled the cards into a new order in her hand. Her answer came quickly but not rushed, as if she was stating a well-known but scientifically groundbreaking fact about walruses. "I don't always want to go."

Well, that was confusing. "So, why do you?"

Finally glancing up and seeing his arms crossed over his chest and his personal deck laid free where she could see it, she sighed and laid her own cards down, "I have to."

He sat up a little straighter, uncrossing his arms to lay his forearms on the edge of the table, "Why?" She looked away from him and off to the side, her gaze lost somewhere in the space by the brick wall. A small shake of her head accompanied an even smaller voice, "I don't know."

The words were concerning, but only just. It was the confused and lost voice in which she had spoken that made a feeling of dread pull the heat from his body and settle cold in his stomach. Carefully, he reached across the table to place his fingers on the back of her wrist, "Where are you going?"

* * *

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* * *

Shoto blinked stupidly at the dark-eyed girl who swayed in his desk chair upon entering his dorm room. "Nagisa." He drew, shutting the door behind him quickly.

The grin was almost predatory as she dropped one of his nicer blue pens from her playful fingers back onto the desktop, "Shoto. Been a while."

He nodded as he dropped his bag on the floor and neatly removed his shoes. "Where have you been?" He loosened his tie as he walked to the closet to hang it up along with the other bits of school uniform that hung in stark military order.

"Around." He took the double meaning from the answer with a nod as he pulled out a notebook and dropped it beside the pen on the desk. He gestured at her in obvious disinterest as he waited for her to remove herself from his chair. When she finally deposited herself across the room onto his bed, he sat down at the desk and flipped open his notes and homework folder. "What do you want?"

She kicked her shoes off, catching his grimace at her wearing them in the room at all, – "You have no home training." – and wiggled her toes, "Heard you have something for me."

His facial expression dropped into disbelief, clicking his pen open and closed a few times. "You-… I don't have anything for you. But if I did, how would you even know it?"

Nagisa shrugged at him pulling a pillow from the head of the bed to hug to her chest, "Expectation? Trepidation? I'm antsy. Like you said, its been a while."

He spun around in the chair, knowing homework would be lost until she got what she wanted and left. "I saw you sneaking out of Bakugo's room the other day." His grin was downright devilish, "You little whore. He's going to be mad."

Nagisa waved her hand dismissively, "Pet project. Besides, Kats'ki's got potential." She shoved herself up with a bounce, depositing the pillow on the floor and moving to wrap her arms around his shoulders. She gave a kiss to him on the cheek, "You just worry about becoming the world's greatest hero your daddy wants you to be. Let me worry about my life."

Shoto rolled his eyes back mentally as they dipped down her neckline, his finger reaching up to pop the top two buttons of her shirt in a sardonic grin, "Father would be pissed that you're here."

She nipped the top of his ear teasingly, "Between you and me," she whispered, "Your father is always pissed. About me. About everything. Really though, he should be thankful that I took care of his little All Might envy."

Fingertips ghosted over her hips and waist as he looked her up and down, "Oh, I'm sure he is, darling. I haven't heard the end of it, yet. Glad I'm not home to be consistently reminded that one of his little _pet projects _just made him the number one hero."

She plopped down ungracefully to the pillow forgotten on the floor and waited for more attention. He gave a sigh and leaned on his elbows, "What do you want?"

"I can't just miss your company?" She pouted, kicking one of his feet with her own. An uninteresting look answered her before he spun back around to face his homework and began to work. "Aren't you supposed to be busy with villain stuff? I don't have time to entertain you."

She glared at his back before grabbing his chair and rolling him back to her, spinning him around to face her. She sat up to rest her elbows on his knees. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shoto raised an eyebrow at her, "I- I'm so sorry. I must have you confused with another girl my father use to smack around." His mocking humor was lost on her as she nodded.

"That's understandable. He's smacked around a lot of girls and boys." He frowned, his eyebrow dropping his face into a sneer. He shoved her elbows off of him and stood up, pretending to brush her filth from his pants. "You're a distraction, Nagisa. Are you good for anything, I wonder?"

She blinked down at herself before looking back up at him innocently, "I've been told so."

His grin turned devilish again as he playfully kicked her feet, "You little whore!"

* * *

||Pressure Valve||

* * *

He sighed as he stared at the door in front of him in the empty hallway; a million thoughts raced through his mind, urging him to two different extremes of breaking the door down or walking away. Dejecting to whatever this would snowball into, he raised his fist to knock against the wood, the sound gentle but solid.

Only a second past before a voice called through the barrier, "Come in."

Peeking through the door, he glanced around the room before sliding inside and shutting the door as quietly as possible behind him, "Tomura," He raised his eyes to address the blue haired man slouched at the desk before him.

"Twice. What is it?"

"We need to talk."


	10. Chapter 10

I was recently made aware that page break lines are no longer visible on the FF app, and I have to say I'm not a fan.

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||Pressure Valve||

* * *

The lull in the bar house continued throughout the cold months, many running errands for Tomura in recruiting. For the first time in many of these weeks, Nagisa found herself alone in the building with Koneko. Unsure about breaching the silence, content to just watch her old friend from across the room, the option was taken from her by the white-eyed entity.

"You were right. About the whole love thing." Confusion answered as Nagisa stood and made her way casually across the room. When she was seated a few stools away, she tapped her fingers on the table to echo the sound throughout the chamber. "I don't understand?"

Koneko stopped chewing on the pen that rested in her hand, taking great effort to not sigh loudly but also not turning to look at her. "I don't love Tomura." The statement was a nuclear surprise despite being only a whisper, and the girl didn't wait for her reaction before continuing. "At least, not anymore. Perhaps I did at one point, I don't know for certain."

"Oh." Nagisa let the whisper fall from her as she leaned back in her chair, weighing the heavy silence as she tried to connect to the sentiment, "I see." She wasn't entirely sure what the revelation was supposed to mean, but the file that Koneko was working on definitely wasn't an old one being adjusted, which meant it wasn't one of Tomura's. The white-eyed girl caught her line of sight and shifted her arm over the file.

"Make no mistake, Nagisa. My loyalty still stands." This statement was bitten out threateningly, in a way that was almost a challenge for her to think otherwise, "I am just not in love with him."

Straightening and looking away before looking her friend in the eye, she cleared her throat. "This place that you've been disappearing to.. it is a man, then?" The information was something she _should_ know so she might as well ask.

Her friend answered with a shake of her head, making Nagisa intrigued before the next words crushed that curiosity. "It is. But I don't love him either, I'm not that stupid."

"Then how do you know?" The question came before she realized she asked it, and moments later did she realize that she was asking for her own sake. Her mind had her torn between duty and wants. She did like Dabi, but it wasn't something that could last. That didn't mean she didn't want it to.

It was almost satirical, how bitter the irony was that every time she pushed him away, she felt a little more romantically for him. The flirtatious friendship with Shoto had come from her time in the facility, within those rare days he had accompanied his father. But this friendship had in no-way influenced her. It was the rekindled friendship with Katsuki that had started the push and pull between her feelings.

While it was Tomura that pushed for it, hoping she would be able to turn him to their side, she found that rekindling that childhood friendship made her feel pleasantly free. For so long, her life revolved around the facility; and what had come after it was just as focused on facility, much to her chagrin. But this revived rapport was like a drastic tide, pulling her between want and need.

"Because it doesn't feel any different," Koneko blinked at her as if the answer was more so an answer to the universe than to why she felt the way she did. "How am I to know that my love and loyalty is not interchangeable?"

Before Nagisa could decode that, she continued. "My love and hate are so intertwined that I cannot tell the difference anymore."

The concept gave her pause as the silence reigned regent once again. Was it possible to love and hate someone simultaneously? Perhaps Shoto was a good example of that, her bitter, yet subdued, hatred fed her affection. Likewise, that gave an answer to her Dabi problem as well. She wasn't sure if she loved or hated him. She wasn't sure if she hated him so much, she loved him, or vice versa.

She opened her mouth to ask if there was a difference when Koneko suddenly pushed away from the table and stood, the file closing into her hands. "There's only one way to find out, I suppose." The white-eyed girl seemed to steady herself in that resolve as she stared at the file in her hands before nodding to herself stiffly and leaving the room.

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* * *

Tomura had collected them a few hours later to meet with a new prospective member Jin had found. The meeting location would be held in an old warehouse not far from where they had taken Katsuki, no one willing to bring any unvetted prospects to the bar house. The three met with Dabi and most of the others, waiting only a short while before Jin's arrival.

She sat atop an old crate beside Compress. Dabi stood on the other side of the wall beside Mag. Tomura stood center, hands shoved in his pockets. Per usual, Koneko stood with him. She noticed however, that instead of being behind or beside him, Tomura had precariously placed her in front of him.

The action didn't seem to reach her white-eyed companion, but it was so unlike him that it made her nerves prickle all the way down her spine, her eyes continuously pulling back to them.

Eventually, the door pulled open in a loud sound that didn't quite cover the conversation that carried.

"- an unsanitary dump. This is your base of operations?"

"Sure! You think I'd bring you to our base right off the bat? This is just a rendezvous point."

She ignored the rest of the clipped conversation to glance at Hands, gauging how he took the insult. The smirk on his face was short and held barely restrained contempt. Though, it was Koneko's expression that piqued her interest. Those pure white eyeballs seemed almost explosively wide. A look of shock gave way to minute horror before the trepidation solidified back into a stoic mask.

Glancing back at the door, she found Jin in full gear beside a decisively handsome man in a mask. Upon their full entrance and stop, Tomura stepped forward to wrap a left arm around Koneko's waist. His right arm bent up at the elbow beside her to grip her shoulder backwards from the front. The look of afront was back on her face, and Nagisa could practically see the girl's heart start beating out of her chest.

Eyes shooting back to the new man, she saw eyebrows raise, his eyes creasing in mocking pleasure, "Calm yourself, Tomura Shigaraki. She doesn't love me. She's not that stupid."

The words, accompanied by the odd actions, shined light onto the situation as Nagisa's mind moved faster than her eyes could. Her companion's actions solidified the knowledge that the new prospect was the man she had been meeting with for the past few months, as her eyes squeezed together in self-contempt. Her lips parted slightly as she turned her head to the right and pressed a lingering, reassuring kiss to the back of Tomura's hand.

The action seemed to amuse the new man further, inciting an insult from Tomura. "I see the picture on file does you too much justice. What a whooper you found there, Twice."

"What? This guy's famous?" Mag spoke up from beside Dabi, who seemed otherwise uninterested in the battle of wit. Tomura's answer came level, almost like the earlier insults weren't thrown between the two. "He's yakuza. The young head of the Shie Hassaikai."

Mag seemed almost excited by the potential of a high-ranking yakuza member in their midst, "Ooooh, a gangster? I've never met one before. He's got an aura of danger about him."

The conversation edged into the news of All Might's downfall, making her grit her teeth at the memories that accompanied it. Slowly, as the men moved around, throwing insults about who was the rightful leader under All for One's new reign, Koneko made way over to her, almost twitching with unease.

She dared a raised eyebrow at the ridged girl, receiving a mocking glare in return. "Hey, at least he's cute. Nice catch."

Koneko's lip twisted into a silent snarl, "I'm going to kill Twice."

The anything-but-empty promise broke through the commotion before it got too loud to ignore, Tomura's next words coming robust and level. "Get out."

Unwilling to wait for compliance, Mag had whipped out his weapon of choice and moved forward. The girl beside her seized up beyond comprehensively possible and stumbled back, her eyes locked onto the yakuza's hands which had pulled off white gloves in the commotion.

Soon, she saw why the distress was warranted. A single touch to Mag's arm had caused an almost internal combustion of human flesh. Mag exploded into a fury of gore that rocked the room like a mortar shell. Tomura and Koneko both spoke up when the other being beside her lunged forward.

"Compress, wait!"

"No! Don't!"

Compress's quirk had failed, the shock lasting only momentarily. But it lasted long enough that the yakuza backhanded Compress away from him. The short contact against forearms, accompanied by a snipped "Don't touch me", had caused the same internal combustion to break from Compress's arm. His luck that it wasn't his whole body, she thought. Her eyes whipped to Koneko in speculating disbelief.

"Tomura, stop!" The girl's scream brought her back to the spectacle of Hands moving to press his own palm against the yakuza, "Shield." Followed her voice in a soft whisper at the same time the word came from the mouth of the masked man. Immediately, the wall behind the prospect – though, she supposed he was the furthest thing from a prospect now – broke through with his own band of quirked assailants. A body was in front of him in a second, before Tomura's touch collided with a chest that belonged to a different masked man.

She ran to Compress's side, attempting to make sure the destroyed limb didn't cause his demise from blood loss or shock. Koneko followed shortly after, assisting her in tying a cloth to staunch the bleeding.

"We should have started this way. We might've understood each other sooner."

Jin seemed panicked as he looked around wildly, "I swear we weren't followed!"

Despite the clusterfuck that was almost a battlefield, the yakuza was still close enough to Tomura to attack each other, should they want to.

"I wanted this to go peacefully, League of Villains. No way we're coming to any amicable decisions now. And, well… losing people on both sides isn't exactly productive. One dead for each of us… better end it there. Let's talk again once everyone's cooled off. After all, we owe you an arm."

Instead of moving back, the former-prospect moved a step closer to Hands, his voice not yet dropping. "I'm not saying rush the decision, but better make it sooner rather than later. Think about it carefully… about your organization…."

His eyes drifted to Koneko before he continued, "And everything else." His next words were hushed for only Tomura to hear, but her lip-reading skills had not degraded, "I might never have said she belongs to me, but you'd be foolish to think she's not mine."

He stepped back quickly, leaving the busted shelter with his other assailants. "When you've calmed down, gimme a call."

Upon his departure, she glanced back Hands. His chest heaved with poorly concealed fury. Twice stepped up beside him, his rage giving way to question, "…Are you going to call him?"

Collecting his breath, Tomura bowed his head sharply. "Like he said, he owes us an arm." His eyes altered progressively diligent to the two girls, "And two hands."

Koneko narrowed her eyes before flickering out of the structure. The resounding crack that echoed through the air and off the walls being the only reassurance that wherever she went, it was not to the yakuza man.

* * *

||Pressure Valve||

* * *

The bar was quiet as everyone available sat around. Tomura was busy trashing his bedroom if the sounds were anything to go by. Nagisa sat in a chair in the corner, chin propped up on interlaced fingers. Elbows sagged down lower against the table in front of her as her eyes drifted over Dabi and Jin, drowning out the thumping and vibrations that came through the walls. Their intense and hushed discussion wasn't of enough interest to read their lips. Instead, her mind wondered over the events of the fast-moving day. She was sure hoping spring would come soon, bringing the sun back out for longer than a handful of hours. Already it was dark outside and would be for at least another twelve.

A few other grieving members, including Kurogiri, had gone to assist Compress upon him awaking. Rousing without a limb could be a bit heart breaking, and she didn't envy any of them who would witness his likely mental breakdown. She collected her thoughts onto another topic: the knowledge of where Koneko had been going and the curiosity of how Tomura had found out.

It was obvious the girl wasn't expecting a confrontation between them, yet the two men knew way too much about each other and held intended plans for Nagisa to believe Koneko hadn't been trading minor secrets. The behavior wasn't traitorous, as she had equally shared the yakuza's secrets – which Nagisa would expect Tomura to have overlooked, seeing as Koneko was likely slipping the information into files on their enemies, allies, and known villains – but it was concerning.

Koneko was now playing two powerful fields like a personal playground of fragile male emotions, accompanied by sex. Men were too easily manipulated in matters of the heart and bedroom for these relationships to be coincidental. She would need to start keeping a closer watch on the white-eyed girl.

She moved her eyes over to Tomura as he came through the door, and found at least a whole three seconds taken from her memory as she saw the ceiling through a haze of dust in the next moment.

A blast broke through the wall behind her, causing a deafening ring shoot through her head as she blinked up from the rubble of brick, wood, and glass. It felt like only a half second ago she had glanced at Hands, and yet it felt like a lifetime ago as she struggled to reorient herself in the shaking world. And just like that, movement around her broke through the almost spiritual solid. Sound slowly began to ease back to her as shouting overtook the ringing. A warm dampness running down her face alerted her to an injury before the pain did.

A hand gripped her forearm roughly, yanking her up and into a pair of waiting arms. The sudden lurch mixed with the pounding in her head, churning her insides into a wave of nausea that almost overtook her. Had she the mind to gag, she was sure her muscles would have thrown her back to the floor in an instant to empty her stomach contents. She blinked up through the painfully sick haze, expecting to see a spikey black mane and pale skin accompanied by stitched on scar tissue. Instead, as her knees became unsteady underneath her, blonde hair and red wings flashed into her vision before her eyes rolled back and she sunk into the darkness where stability didn't matter.

When the room settled again and the fighting stopped as the assailants fled quickly, Tomura decayed the rubble away from him in with a quick march towards the other two men standing, "Who the fuck was that?!" Halfway through his question, Kurogiri warped into the room after sensing the disturbance and surveyed the damage, waiting silently for an answer.

Dabi bent down to pick up a red feather left behind in haste, twirling it in his fingers as the glare on his face turned murderous. "Hawks."

"Who the hell is that? **He took Nagisa!** What is going on?" Twice kicked some bloodied rubble away from the hole in the wall as he glanced down on empty streets below.

The growl came vicious and left defeated, "Keigo Takami."

"Your prospect?" Jin barely got the words out before Tomura had overtaken him to get in Dabi's face. Kurogiri stepping between them to stop an obviously oncoming attack, "You brought him _here_?!"

"Tomura, should I-" Kurogiri's question went half asked and fully answered as Tomura turned to the hole in the wall, visibly shaking for everyone to see. "Kuro'! Find Koneko! Now!" His glare turned back to Dabi upon Kurogiri's disappearance. His red irises shrunk in his wide-eyed gaze.

"Tell me everything about him. _Now_."

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||Pressure Valve||

* * *

Aizawa stepped away from the stove with a start when a loud crack filled the household, the living room housing the source. He quickly reached over to shut off the glowing eye and waved a silent hand down the hall to the two pairs of peering eyes. A slow approach was applied with caution as he slipped on his goggles before appearing in the doorway.

His breath caught at the white-eyed girl that stood standing in the middle of the room. When her eyes caught his movement, she disarmed him with only a few words, "I'm not here to fight you. I need your help, uncle."

He lifted the goggles from his eyes, and let them hang around his neck with suspicion as he slowly approached the couch. "So, you do remember."

She scoffed in way of answering 'of course I remember' and tossed a folder down onto the coffee table before him.

He sat at the same time she did, taking the folder with a painstaking slowness that made her shift uncomfortably. When he flipped it open, he eyed the two main pictures of a man and a small girl inside before flipping them over and reading through the reported information. After a few moments of silent debate, he peeked up at her but did not close the folder. "What is this?"

She didn't answer, just crossed one leg over the other and waited.

"I wasn't aware that you were involved with the yakuza."

She glanced away from him finally, a soft answer coming in the same action, "I'm not."

He looked back down at the two photos with understanding. "And the girl?"

Again, she said nothing, causing him to toss the open folder back onto the coffee table with a sigh. When he opened his mouth, she cut off his assumption before he aired it.

"I have no intention of leaving the league of villains, turning myself in, or becoming a hero, – even if it was possible – I just want you to help the girl."

He nodded, peering down the hallway and seeing a door creek closed after being caught eaves dropping, "Why don't you take her?"

The girl looked at him bewildered for a moment, as if he had asked her to keep a fully-grown African elephant in her bedroom, "And what would I do with her?"

He lifted the folder again and swept over the man's photo, "This will be seen as an act of betrayal."

"I'm aware, but I don't want you to touch him. Just take the girl."

A minute of silence passed before he pondered over the large amount of information in the file. Bits and pieces of otherwise relevant information were missing, showing just how serious she was about the girl being the _only_ objective. "You keep frighteningly immaculate records."

She looked at the folder in his hands and seemed to mull over if that was an accurate statement, ostensibly almost oblivious she did so. "Do you remember when you taught me to play chess?"

"_Tried_ to teach you. A strategist you were, a competitive player you were not. Rules, you didn't understand." He answered in leu of a yes. The folder closed and tucked into the cushion beside him as he waited for an explanation on the relevance of chess.

The girl shook her head at him with a derisive smile, "I don't believe there is such a thing as 'war crimes.' It is, after all, _war_."

"It is _chess_." He muttered, amused. Her next question came quieter, her head tilted slightly to the side and her eyes looked passed his head, though her focus appeared to be mere inches in front of her. "Do you remember what you told me?"

The slight shake of his head was irrelevant, as she seemed to expect a negative response and continued speaking, "You said: 'the only way to win at chess is to know your pieces. What they are. What they-"

"What they can do. How to play them. And how to play them against each other." He finished for her in understanding. He gestured with his eyes towards the folder, which he guessed there were dozens more of, "You know your pieces."

When she nodded and let the room fade to silence, he wondered what game of chess she was playing. After several minutes of both of them contemplating, he finally noticed a small ticking that indicated a clock on the wall. Well use to the sound, he realized the silence had stretched much too long and his subconscious had picked up on the only noise.

"What happened?" He queried, standing and gesturing for her to follow him to the kitchen so he could continue cooking dinner for the other occupants he was sure were eaves dropping again. When she passed through the threshold and her feet met the tile, she answered as her eyes swept the room.

"You're a pro-hero. Even if they didn't involve you after correctly assuming your moral compass pointed north, you would have surely heard the rumors."

He paused, his fingertips brushing the burner knobs before gripping and turning them slightly to the right, "The facilities?"

She nodded, him only catching the action in her reflection shown in the stainless steal stove vent. "They're real."

He rose a spoon to stir the seasoned vegetables that steamed over a pot as he considered the accuracy of that. When he turned back around and leaned on the counter, she lifted her sleeves to show him scars that ran the lengths of her forearms. Many of them were strangely round and the size of an American quarter. "You had a personality disorder as a child. You said once that you were seeing the world through the dirty glass of a house you could not escape."

"What does that have to do with anything?" She inquired, lowering her sleeves and moving to pick up a pepper on a chopping board. As she popped the small slice into her mouth, she visibly chewed thoughtfully about why he would make such a statement. "You think I would have put up a struggle at being kidnapped?"

His lack of answer was answer enough. "That day they came. They were so calm, so jovial. They made it seem like I was going to be useful to the world, that I was going to experience the world I was seeing through that dirty glass."

His contemplation was only interrupted by a sound down the hall, but the girl ignored it as she popped another pepper into her mouth and sat down at the table. "Was it a walk on the beach?"

The look she gave him was reminiscent and longing. "I thought, I was going to jump into the ocean and float. And for the first week or so, I did. I floated, and I enjoyed. The process in the facility was almost… innocent."

He stirred the vegetables one more time and checked inside the oven to flip the chicken that resided inside. "So innocent that you got bored and decided to become a villain." He finished ironically, mocking her words that so contrasted her behavior, alongside the rumors that seemed too grotesque to be real.

"And the next thing I know, I'm being strapped down to a table with metal rods piercing through my skin." Her words snapped at him with a vengeance, bringing him to silence as he slid into the table across from her. The look in her dead eyes – because that's what the solid white signified, a dead acceptance – and the tone of voice compiled into her record keeping and snapped the rumors into his conscious mind in a way he knew could not be fabricated. "That day they took me with them…"

He reached towards her gloved hand, but faltered, "That day was a tragedy. For all of us."

She slowly slid off her glove and turned her palm upright in the space between them over the table. A small almost half-spherical shape began to wave above her hand. It rippled in its practiced form like heatwaves, barely visible to the human eye. She held it for a minute before looking up at him and letting the air brake away from the half-sphere. The small shockwave of pressure caused no harm but was felt like a wind that made his heart beat faster and his ears pop. "No. That day was a miracle that ended in tragedy."

* * *

||Pressure Valve||

* * *

Before I wrote the little "ticking clock" excerpt, the silence in my house was so still that I began to hear the clock ticking, which I thought nothing of... until after I wrote that seen. I suddenly realized, with no amount of exaggerated horror, that there are NO clocks in my house. I'm not sure anything was ticking at all. I'm pretty sure my subconscious just filled the silence with a noise I can remember hearing in the past that accompanied silence.


	11. ACAB

I know it has been a long time since the last update. Life got busy. I do have plans to finish this story and upload new ones over different fandoms, but with the current climate in my country it will take a while.

So I just wanted to give this update to tell all protesters and all American citizens (and Hong Kong too, our hearts are with you) to please stay safe. Wear masks and protective gear, stick together, and **keep** **fighting**.

For my young minor followers, please follow the tensions via social media but stay safe at home if you can. Learn all you can and don't be influenced by those who want to lay down and ignore the massacre of our citizens.

I know it is getting more dangerous every day but the revolution is coming. Our oppressive government will keep adding pressure, but we will keep fighting for our brothers and sisters. We will not stop. America has never been great, but maybe one day it will be.

Stay safe and don't lose hope.

**Black** **Lives** **Matter!**

ACAB


End file.
